Lumber Company Launches Greenwashing Campaign

"Pacific Lumber, the Northern California redwood logging giant whose clear-cuts have made it among the most vilified companies in the West by environmental groups over the past 15 years, is getting a makeover," the San Jose Mercury News writes. "Famous for enduring tree-sitting protesters, threatening to chop down the ancient Headwaters Forest, and facing constant lawsuits, Pacific Lumber has unveiled a new 'rebranding' campaign to repaint its image green." The company, now known as "Palco", has a new green logo, revamped website and newspaper ads featuring loggers replanting trees. But critics still laugh at Palco being environmentally friendly. "If Palco's green, I'm Princess Diana," Kathy Bailey, a Sierra Club logging activist in Mendocino County, told the Mercury News. "These kind of campaigns usually succeed in making employees feel better," Eric Dezenhall, president of the crisis communications firm Nichols-Dezenhall, told the Mercury News. "But the public knows oil companies drill for oil and timber companies chop wood. I haven't in 20 years found campaigns to appease one's attackers to be that effective."