1. What is your reaction to the Fur Council of Canada's green advertising campaign? What would you say to an animal rights activist who is outraged at the claims the Fur Council is making? Canadian businesses are increasingly promoting themselves as "green" enterprises. For example, the Fur Council of Canada-which emphasizes its ties with Native Canadians and its made-in-Canada attributesis promoting itself as a green industry with billboard and print advertisements that stress the sustainability of the fur industry.

Convincing customers that a business is green is becoming increasingly difficult because consumers have become quite cynical, and because watchdog groups carefully scrutinize green claims. The 2010 Canadian Green Gap Index survey found that an overwhelming majority of Canadians either couldn't name a green retailer or didn't think any retailer was deserving of the label. A Gandalf Group survey of 1500 Canadians found that the majority of consumers think that

(a) environmental claims by businesses are just a marketing ploy, and

(b) labelling regulations are needed so buyers can understand what terms like

"eco-friendly" actually mean.