FTC may crack down on 'greenwashing'

For the first time in 12 years, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will reportedly soon release a new set of "Green Guides," environmental marketing guidelines for how companies market and label their products, packaging and corporate initiatives as "green."
According to AdAge.com, which consulted advertising law specialist Christopher Cole, the guides could make many of the 300+ environmental seals of approval now being used on packaging and products "largely useless and possibly in violation of FTC standards." The Ad Age article also said the guides could affect initiatives by Walmart and other large retailers to establish sustainability ratings for products.
And besides tightening standards and possibly even regulating how companies use claims such as recyclable, biodegradable and carbon neutral, the guides "may also attempt to define such legally and linguistically squishy terms as 'sustainability' or tackle the central issue of many 'greenwashing' controversies," the article says. (Greenwashing, in case you're not familiar with the term, is when marketers try to paint their products or practices as environmentally friendly when they actually aren't.)
In my view, "legally and linguistically squishy"--besides being a great phrase--really hones in on the issue. No one, whether consumers, marketers or regulators, can really define what sustainability is; everyone has their own definition. (Actually, I see it as more of a continuum of practices, including development and use of specific types of products, but that's still very vague.)
Yet consumers are demanding sustainable products and corporate practices--including from petfood manufacturers--even if they don't know exactly what that means. Perhaps the new FTC guides, expected to be out by the end of this month, will move at least the US market closer to clarity. In any event, they're likely to change the green landscape as we now know it.