Poll: Are European or American Consumers More Skeptical of Corporate Green Claims?

To signify that it is now serious about sustainability, McDonald's is painting its iconic arches green across Europe. To be fair, the burger behemoth has started to take its first steps towards reducing its global environmental footprint. But nothing screams "greenwashing" like making a superficial logo switch.

As QSR Magazine, a fast food industry journal, points out, it's odd that McDonald's executives have concluded that European consumers would buy into the green arches while Americans would not.
And that's not just because McDonald's is the ultimate symbol of American-style globalization and everything it does will automatically be interpreted as wrong across the pond. The conventional wisdom suggests Europeans also have higher environmental standards than Americans do and they are more likely to think issues like climate change and genetically-modified foods are a threat. Surely, that greater green awareness should also mean that European consumers are more skeptical of corporate green claims than their American counterparts, right?

Well, McDonald's is a pretty savvy company so perhaps that conventional wisdom is simply wrong. Please share your view in the poll below and contribute your insights in the comments section.