Consumers who rely on “green” labels to guide their purchases should beware. Many products claiming to be green are nothing of the sort, according to a new report by marketing firm TerraChoice.
TerraChoice studied labels on more than 5,000 purportedly environmentally-friendly products in the U.S. and Canada, and concluded that 95 percent of the time marketers had engaged in “greenwashing”–making claims that were vague, misleading, or downright false.
In short, many of the endorsements that companies slap onto their products mean very little. For instance, as the website Beyond Pesticides points out, the label “Earth Friendly Farm Friendly” allows the use of pesticides and hormones in some dairy products.
The report also found that big retail chains were more likely to stock products with legitimate ”green” certifications than smaller, “green” boutiques.
Keeping up with all the green products is becoming such a challenge that the Federal Trade Commission has proposed revisions to the guidance it issues to marketers looking to make environmental claims. In the last year alone, the number of supposedly green products has grown by 73 percent.
Beyond Pesticides says that the best guide for reliably green products is the certified organic label from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
