Businesses know that green is good with consumers, which explains the dramatic rise in marketing and advertising in recent years for products that are environmentally-friendly. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) believes some companies aren’t being entirely truthful about their “green” claims, resulting in new guidelines that are being proposed.

 

For the first time since 1998, the FTC has reworked its “Green Guides” for businesses to follow when selling products that are supposed to be less harmful to the earth. The biggest change dissuades companies from making broad claims that can’t be substantiated. Be specific, the FTC is telling marketers, or else run the risk of the agency coming after them.

 

The FTC already has demonstrated it will crackdown on flimsy environmental claims. Last year, Kmart, Tender Corporation and Dyna-E International became the first businesses in 10 years that the FTC had punished involving eco-friendly products. The companies got into trouble for making false claims about their paper products being biodegradable. In another case from 2009, four textile companies were charged will using rayon in products they claimed were made from bamboo fiber.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Agency Seeks to Tighten Rules for ‘Green’ Labeling (by Tanzina Vega, New York Times)

Proposed Revisions to Claims Currently Addressed by Guides (Federal Trade Commission) (pdf)