FTC moves to prosecute misleading environmental claims to ensure that environmental marketing is “truthful, substantiated, and not confusing to consumers.” But she acknowledges that environmental claims have to compete for attention on FTC’s agenda, which is currently dominated by financial fraud, ISTOCKPHOTO
With the number and variety of so-called “green” products rising dramatically, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is stepping up its prosecution of misleading environmental marketing claims. In August 2009, FTC charged four companiessJona¨no, Mad Mod, Pure Bamboo, and Bamboosas with deceptively claiming they had used an “environmentally friendly” method to make biodegradable, antimicrobial clothes from 100% bamboo fiber. Those clothes were actually made with rayon and possessed none of these green features. FTC’s action followed another in June, when it charged Kmart Corp., Tender Corp., and Dyna-E International, Inc. with falsely claiming their paper products were biodegradable, even though they don’t degrade in landfills. Jona¨no, Mad Mod, and Pure Bamboo, as well as Kmart and Tender, have settled FTC’s complaints, while the charges against Dyna-E International and Bamboosa remain in litigation. These prosecutions reflect FTC’s aim to police a chaotic marketplace teeming with ambiguous labels, such as “all-natural” and “nontoxic”. But experts warn that FTC and its limited staff are overwhelmed by growth in the greenproducts sector, which leaves consumers increasingly vulnerable to deception. “Goods making some kind of environmental claim are the fastest growing segments of every product category we look at,” says Dara O’Rourke, an associate professor of environmental and labor policy at the University of California Berkeley. “The concern is that some bad actors out there could leave consumers disillusioned and undermine the whole market for environmentally preferable products.” Korin Ewing, an FTC staff attorney, says the agency’s recent prosecutions highlight its work
Too green to be true? Some products overstate their environmental benefits.
particularly in the mortgage sector. A review of the agency’s website reveals that FTC has prosecuted a total of 37 companies for making false energy or environment claims since 1990. Of these, 12 were prosecuted in the past decade. Meanwhile, a highly publicized report, The Seven Sins of Greenwashing, released by the Canadian firm TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, Inc., in April 2009, found that 98% of 2219 green consumer products surveyed either couldn’t supply proof to verify environmental marketing claims, had made irrelevant or meaningless claims, or had based their claims on their manufacturer’s own environmental criteria. “And that makes it impossible for consumers to
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know whether their green purchases are actually generating any environmental benefits,” says Scot Case, a vice president at TerraChoice. Case and others in the field say FTC should level the playing field by defining specifically what companies can assert about a product’s environmental attributes. Consumers now have to rely on a confusing array of more than 300 environmental certification schemes. Although many of these schemes apply rigorous standards, some of them are bogus and will certify any product for a price, Case says. FTC has yet to prosecute any private certification scheme, and Ewing, citing confidentiality, would not say if any were under investigation now. FTC does strive to establish baseline environmental marketing criteria with its “Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims”, known as the “Green Guides”, which were first issued in 1992 and updated in 1998. The guides don’t carry the rule of law but aim to help marketers avoid “unfair or deceptive” claims by explaining how consumers interpret environmental terms. The guides were supposed to be updated earlier in 2009 to address newer marketing terms such as “sustainability” and “carbon neutral”, which weren’t defined previously. The new edition has been delayed, however, pending results of a consumer perception study hired out by FTC to Harris Interactive, Inc., a consumer research firm. In the meantime, consumers are faced with a largely unregulated market that sells green products at a considerable markup. —CHARLES W. SCHMIDT
10.1021/es902761q
2009 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 09/16/2009
