A recent report by Ad Age reveals that the Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch new regulatory enforcement around The Green Guides, which help marketers avoid making environmental claims that are unfair or deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Some of the biggest problem areas that spurred such need for reform included environmental claims around what truly is “biodegradable,” “compostable,” “recyclable,” “recycled content,” and “carbon neutral,” for instance. Around this time last year, the FTC cracked down on “bamboo” claims asserting that bamboo fiber is indeed rayon and should be labeled as “rayon” or “rayon manufactured from bamboo.”
The revival of the regulations in the guides are the first move to crack-down on environmental-marketing claims in 12 years, according to Ad Age, and are poised to radically reshape how far marketers can go in painting their products, packaging or even corporate images green. However, they are expected to help elucidate and refine ambiguous areas of environmental marketing. Packaging, textiles, and other materials and products will fall under the new regulations.
A recent report by Ad Age reveals that the Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch new regulatory enforcement around The Green Guides, which help marketers avoid making environmental claims that are unfair or deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Some of the biggest problem areas that spurred such need for reform included environmental claims around what truly is “biodegradable,” “compostable,” “recyclable,” “recycled content,” and “carbon neutral,” for instance. Around this time last year, the FTC cracked down on “bamboo” claims asserting that bamboo fiber is indeed rayon and should be labeled as “rayon” or “rayon manufactured from bamboo.”
The revival of the regulations in the guides are the first move to crack-down on environmental-marketing claims in 12 years, according to Ad Age, and are poised to radically reshape how far marketers can go in painting their products, packaging or even corporate images green. However, they are expected to help elucidate and refine ambiguous areas of environmental marketing. Packaging, textiles, and other materials and products will fall under the new regulations.
Source4Style currently follows FTC guidelines for the materials found on our portal and upon launch will contain a wealth of environmental and social information for each product so that buyers will have greater understanding and assurance on how to communicate and market a material appropriately. We expect that the FTC will focus on how consumers interpret or understand claims rather than focusing on the technical definitions for terms like biodegradability or recyclability. We also don’t expect The Green Guides to set internal or external performance standards like the Eco Index.
What we do expect is greater regulatory oversight of how and what gets marketed. Brands should be prepared to:
- Make any environmental qualifications or disclosures sufficiently clear to prevent deception;
- Clarify what part of the product or package has certain environmental claims;
- Be conservative and ensure not to overstate any environmental claim; and
- Clarify comparative claims so that consumers know whether the comparison is to a previous version of the advertised product or to a competitor’s product.
One area of concern will be the use of blanketing claims like “environmentally-friendly,” “eco-friendly,” and “green.” Brands are encouraged to become more multi-dimensional when staking out environmental benefits and be able to authenticate specific environmental attributes. In summary, vague, confusing and misleading is an outright No, No and brands that err on the side of caution before claiming will win out in the end.
