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United KingdomAre the FTC guidelines killing green marketing?
Are the FTC guidelines killing green marketing?
Submitted: The Two Sides Team November 21, 2012
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission released its long-pending revisions to its green marketing guidelines. Commonly known as the Green Guides, these guidelines regulate how marketers may promote the environmental benefits of their products and services.
November 19 2012
by Anne Michelsen, GreenBiz
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission released its long-pending revisions to its green marketing guidelines. Commonly known as the Green Guides, these guidelines regulate how marketers may promote the environmental benefits of their products and services.
The revised Green Guides offer new guidance on several topics,
including renewable energy, renewable materials and carbon credits.
However, the most game-changing aspect of the revised Green Guides is
that they now expressly prohibit marketers from making general
environmental benefit claims. These include statements such as green,
eco-friendly and environmentally sound, which all imply that a
product or service is good for the environment without making clear
exactly why or how.
Based on research indicating that consumers are easily misled by such
language, the FTC states that unqualified general green claims are no
longer acceptable, whether marketing to consumers or B2B.
Furthermore, a statement doesnt have to be clearly articulated to
count as a general green claim. The guidelines apply to all
forms of
marketing in any medium, whether asserted directly or by implication,
through words, symbols, logos, depictions, product brand names, or any
other means.
This is huge.
Why? Because so many of us have incorporated environmental benefit claims into our branding.
Just think about some of the major companies who have done so.
Clorox, with their Green Works line of cleaning products.
Kimberly-Clark’s Scott Naturals. Seventh Generation.
These companies, and countless others both large and small, have
built environmental messaging right into their identities, or into the
identities of certain of their products.
What will happen to brands like these under the new FTC guidelines?
What are they supposed to do? Is it safer to stop talking about green
benefits altogether? Is this the end of green marketing?
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