What Do you Call a Greenwashed Sweepstakes? ... Greenswept?

We've talked about this one before.

Please, oh please.  If you're going to run a "Going Green" sweepstakes, make the prize, or at least part of the entry process, green.

Here's the latest example we just ran across:  Very Big Company X is running a promotion through Pretty Big Website Y targeted to women.  The name of the promotion is "Going Green Giveaway".  The prize:  $250 in cash, which they suggest that you use to go green.  One of those suggestions? ... "Eat granola and say things like 'righteous' and 'groovy'."

Let's leave aside the fact that $250 is a lot of money to spend on granola and freedom of speech means you can say "righteous" as many times as you like for no money down. The key selling point to entice folks to enter this "Going Green Giveaway" is that, if they win, they can spend the money however they like. And therein, dear reader, lies the problem.  Who's to say that the winner will do anything particularly green with the money? 

Of course, this type of giveaway is supremely easy to run.  Just ask for an email address, at the end of the promotion pick a winner at random, send them a check and you're done.  But if this company is truly looking to combine eco-stewardship with a sweepstakes, then the prize should be specifically green -- say a compost bin, home energy monitoring system, or a $250 gift card to an exclusively eco-friendly retailer.  Alternatively, the entry process could require some kind of recognition from the entrant of their efforts to go green -- a brief essay on their eco-New Year's resolutions, or a photo contest which shows them doing something eco-friendly, like recycling. 

We would urge Big Company X to do something, anything, to put the "Green" back in their "Going Green Giveaway".  Until then, we have no choice, alas, but to file their latest sweepstakes under our newly-labeled folder:  Greenswept.