U.S. Government Expected To Regulate "Greenwashing" Marketing Campaigns
by ERICA LIEPMANN, Causecast Associate Editor
In recent years, as worries continue to mount about climate change, it’s become mainstream for companies to use marketing campaigns that center around conveying a positive environmental message about the products and services they sell, painting the company’s environmental impact in the best possible light. That’s all fine and good, assuming the company is making legitimate claims about how they are responding to environmental issues. However, concerns have begun to arise about the legitimacy of many of these claims. Environmental terms are tossed around in marketing campaigns, without clear definitions, and corporations easily manipulate (or “greenwash”) their public image without backing up their claims. In upcoming months, the federal government is expected to look more closely at this issue.
In the meantime, until laws are on the books, be a savvy consumer. Investigate the environmental claims made by any companies you purchase from and make the best possible decisions based on your research. Check out the Greenwashing Index for tips on which companies are telling the truth about their environmental impact. You can also join Greenpeace’s Stop Greenwash campaign for ideas about how you can take action.
From Scientific American:
The Federal Trade Commission is expected to crack down on greenwashing when it updates its environmental marketing guidelines for the first time since 1998.
The agency’s Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, or Green Guides, define terms such as “recyclable” and “biodegradable” and explain how businesses should back up environmental assertions. Though FTC cannot force businesses to adopt greener practices, Section 5 of the FTC Act authorizes the agency to intervene when businesses are misrepresenting their practices to clients — in other words, turning greenwashing into fraud.
Read more on the Scientific American.
Photo by Jamiesrabbits, flickr.
- Posted by Causecast
Related causes: Environment
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This reminds of when Nestle Quick launched a big campaign years ago that they're no longer using cardboard boxes to hold Quick, but plastic ones to save the trees. The plastic, of course, contributed far more damage by being petroleum-based and mixed with the sap from trees.