University Business Communication Skills Assessment 1: Summary Report

This assignment analyzes two distinct but related business communication issues: financial fraud and deceptive environmental marketing practices, also known as "Greenwashing". The first section addresses a major fraud syndicate in Australia that stole over $10 million from superannuation funds, highlighting the need for consumers to monitor their accounts. The second section delves into the increasing concern over "Greenwashing" in the U.S., where companies make misleading eco-friendly claims to boost sales. The assignment discusses the rise of this practice, the ineffectiveness of regulatory bodies like the Federal Trade Commission, and the efforts of consumer and environmental groups to combat it. The assignment also references the role of consumer awareness, the importance of ethical advertising, and the need for authentic green labels, urging consumers to be vigilant against fraudulent activities. The assignment included a 30-word summary of a news article about superannuation fraud.

Running Head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Name

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a) After the Jasmine Vella-Arpaci major fraud syndicate, Australian’s have been severely
warned to keep a stern check over their balances as more than $10 million was ripped in
the scam
b) RBA seems doubtful of the benefits of Morrison government’s tax cuts with no increase
in wage rates. Therefore following the minutes of its latest meeting RBA witnesses no
boost in cash retention with stiff fall in retail sales.
The expected boost of household income with tax offset did not occur with RBA
identifying key indicators building up the wage pressure
c) In U.S the climate change has been a growing concern shifting the focus of an unacceptable
and dubious activity called “Greenwashing”, which is when companies use eco-friendly terms
just to sell their products, and make vague claims breaching the marketing ethics, persuading
consumers.
The term has been on a rise since 1980, however aaccording to advertising consultancy
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing this fraudulent activity has escalated sharply through
these years with more than 98% of products making such false claims (Dahl). Even the Federal
Trade Commission’s code of advertising regulation seemed futile to check this phenomenon. In
2008, the Canadian Competition Bureau did update environmental marketing guidelines to
reduce green misinformation with heavy penalty imposed on offenders. Be it Malaysia Palm Oil
Council tv commercial or Dutch energy giant Shell’s misleading ads the government enforces on
building consumer awareness against these ill corporate practices. Going by the statistics
produced by Terra Choice in the year 2009 there are more than 397 cleaners and paper cleaning
products which use misleading advertising terms like sustainable, eco-friendly, biodegradable

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without any proper standardization of product. It has also been found that more and more
cosmetics and children’s products are prone to this fraudulent activity of green washing.
While strong regulatory schemes have failed to keep a check on this rising issue of
making misleading claims by advertisers more and more consumer and environmental groups are
stepping into the vacuum to keep an eye on this corporate malpractice. Some major steps
include: The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and EnviroMedia
through its social media marketing website greenwashingindex.com encourages the mass to post
all such advertising which are suspected of incorporating this malpractice be it print or the
electronic media along with substantial growth of various anti-green wash blogs.
According to Thomas P. Lyon, a business professor at the University of Michigan, it has
been found that basically companies with a stained reputation intend to enter into this green
washing phenomenon. Moreover experts suggest that there must be a strict speculation regarding
the authenticity of these green labels. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently
proved Energy Star labels must be considered as a standard of quality judgment and authenticity
measurement for green labels. In this growing demand of consumers goods and more and more
buyers entering into this periphery it requires strong sense of awareness on parts of consumers to
mark themselves safe from such fraudulent activity and encourage ethical advertising practice
among sellers.

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References:
Richard Dahl, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 118, No. 6 (JUNE 2010), pp. A246-
A252