A couple of decades ago, there was a popular food label known as “natural.” Problem was, companies began slapping it on everything and consumers lost faith in it. Which raises a question: Is ”green” following in natural’s footsteps?
In a hearing on Capitol Hill, experts addressed this issue. One group, TerraChoice, testified that 98% of all green marketing claims were meaningless.
Some common greenwashing practices include being so vague that the claim is meaningless, advertising claims with no proof, and creating images that falsely imply that the product has gone through a certification process. TerraChoice has labeled these and other greenwashing practices “The Seven Sins of Greenwashing.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission was due to unveil a set of green marketing guidelines, but is way behind on this effort and doesn’t look like its eager to get behind any strong definition. “Right now, more than 300 environmental labels are used worldwide, some of which sell green certification for a flat fee,” according to Sierra Club’s GreenLife blog.
That’s not a very hopeful picture for the integrity of environmental claims.
So what happened to “natural?” Farmers and companies that wanted a more rigorous set of standards came up with “organic,” which is now controlled by more than 500 pages of regulations. Now producers have to jump through a lot of hoops to use that label. Makes one wonder, what will replace green?