Cone's survey revealed a lot more than shopping behaviors. For instance, when it comes to resources and education, a vast majority of participants, 85%, said that they would like for companies to educate them on how to properly use and dispose of products.
More than 60% of respondents understand the environmental terms companies use in their advertising, but most of them still believe that expressions like green or environmentally friendly mean that a product has a positive or neutral impact on the environment. Only 22% were able to correctly identify these terms as meaning the product has a lighter impact than other similar products or less than it used to (2%). Consumer misunderstanding of the term "green" has remained flat at around 60% since 2008.
In terms of clarity of environmental messages, many respondents (69%) say it's okay if a company is not environmentally perfect as long as it is honest. And for companies still not grasping how serious this issue really is, 78% respondents said that they will boycott a product if they discover an environmental claim to be misleading.
Interestingly, when it comes to finding information about green products, only 26% say to perform an online search. The majority, 45% say they are most likely to use on-pack resources for information about how to properly use and dispose of environmental products.

Cone's survey revealed a lot more than shopping behaviors. For instance, when it comes to resources and education, a vast majority of participants, 85%, said that they would like for companies to educate them on how to properly use and dispose of products.
More than 60% of respondents understand the environmental terms companies use in their advertising, but most of them still believe that expressions like green or environmentally friendly mean that a product has a positive or neutral impact on the environment. Only 22% were able to correctly identify these terms as meaning the product has a lighter impact than other similar products or less than it used to (2%). Consumer misunderstanding of the term "green" has remained flat at around 60% since 2008.
In terms of clarity of environmental messages, many respondents (69%) say it's okay if a company is not environmentally perfect as long as it is honest. And for companies still not grasping how serious this issue really is, 78% respondents said that they will boycott a product if they discover an environmental claim to be misleading.
Interestingly, when it comes to finding information about green products, only 26% say to perform an online search. The majority, 45% say they are most likely to use on-pack resources for information about how to properly use and dispose of environmental products.

The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
Related reading

Snapchat: The Gen Z & AR Distribution Layer
Snapchat reaches 75% of all 13–34s in the US and Western Europe, carries 443M daily active users, and runs the largest consumer AR platform on the internet — the Gen Z and AR distribution layer, HUB 16 on the EPR Platform Authority Graph.

Who Controls AI Answers in EdTech
The source map for EdTech AI answers. Government validation sources anchor the factual floor. Category-native trade press sets the editorial tier. Named researchers own the expertise layer.

Cleveland Clinic Tops 25 Health Brand Digital Marketing Campaigns
Cleveland Clinic ranks #1 in 25 Health Brand Campaigns That Redefined Digital Marketing, led by its "Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care" campaign.
Other news
See all
AI Language Citation Audit 2026: How Claude Answers B2B Services Questions in English and German
German queries cite German firms 4x more often than English. Language locks geography. Regulation-specific retrieval jumps 23%. Strategic market-selection guide.

EPR GEO Scorecard Vol. 9: Management Consulting

EPR GEO Scorecard Vol. 8: Law Firms
Most brands are invisible inside AI search. Is yours?
EPR publishes the data every week.
Free. Weekly. Unsubscribe anytime.
