Being green sells… Right? Since this is common knowledge we can assume that producers in every arena has picked up on this and usinging it to boost their profit. This is exactly what Sara Amandolare is writing about in The Truth About Green Advertising. Though the National Advertising Division, The Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Trade Commission has put into place some guidelines for companies that report environmental claims Congress is still determining how to solve this problem. She found that a study was done by Terra Choice (an eco-consulting firm) to see just how many claims were true. Out of 4,000 products almost all were found to be false! Greenwashing is a rising problem and little has been fully developed to penalize these deceiving companies.
Feeling helpless amongst these large corporations? An unexpected heavy-weight joins the conversation and creates a solution themselves! Wal-mart. Yup, Wal-mart has come to save the day... or even the future...? Wal-mart has announced a new policy that is requiring their suppliers to calculate their environmental costs and will be put on the products in the store with the price tag. Media scholars say that this can exponentially amplify public action and create a green competition between competitor companies. Though Wal-mart may have a huge impact on the way their personal product suppliers are regulated there is still a large amount that is being overlooked.
Different agencies regulate the advertising industry as I previously stated before. These regulatory agencies have two basic concerns. ONE, they protect fraudulent or deceptive ads and TWO, they are concerned about ads that have potentially harmful and dangerous products. In her artical Ms. Amandolare finds that, "companies are not required to disclose the use of some substances believed to be dangerous." A regulation is not a requirement, though companies may face consequences for getting caught there is no requirement or law that helps to eliminate this issue.
In obvious ways, this affects us all. I love buying organic or environment friendly products because I see this as a major issue and something worth striving for. Expect to see some changed in the next few years. While Wal-mart is changing their efforts and product labeling we can plan to also see some of the other competing large companies following suit. As for you personaly... be cautious of product advertising and ambiguous claims.
A tip from the Federal Trade Commission: "Look for claims that give some substance to the claim-the additional information that explains why the product is environmentally friendly of "environmentally safe"
-Hope
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