You probably would not think of corporate giants Clorox and Colgate-Palmolive as “green” companies. But they own two of  top 10 “green” brands, at least in the eyes of consumers, according to new global survey of consumer perceptions by WPP, the giant marketing and communications firm.

Topping the list of U.S. brands is Burt’s Bees, which is a unit of Clorox–a fact that isn’t exactly trumpeted on Burt Bee’s extensive website. Instead, the company tells the story of how Roxanne Quinby started the company in rural Maine by making candles out of Burt Shavitz’s beeswax, after which they fell in love and moved into an abandoned schoolhouse to make more. Her folksy little essay concludes: “The honey and candles are gone, the kids are grown, our friend sold the schoolhouse and now it’s a tattoo parlor, and Burt bought a classic motorcycle with his earnings, but otherwise everything’s pretty much the same here at Burt’s Bees.” Well, yes, everything’s pretty much the same except that Burt and Roxanne split, she sold to 80% of the company to a private equity firm, which then sold it to Clorox, best known for its bleach, for $913 million in 2007.

Tom’s of Maine is No. 3 on the list. (Maine is obviously a green state, in the eyes of consumers.) Its marketing, too, features homey images from the company’s early years and talks about “putting the good of community and planet first.” Its toothpastes, mouthwashes, soaps and deodorants are all natural (no aluminum in the deodorant) and use environmentally-friendly packaging. Meriting only the briefest mention is the fact that the family-owned firm was sold in 2006 to Colgate-Palmolive, which makes Ajax and Speed Stick, a deodorants whose active ingredient is aluminum ziconoium tetrachlorhydex. (So is aluminum in deodorant a good or bad thing? Who knows?) Tom’s co-founders Tom and Kate Chappell, meanwhile, have moved on to a new company called Rambler’s Way which makes “superfine, sustainable, American worsted wool apparel.” (more…)