UNCLEAN GREEN - Urge the FTC to revise and enforce Green Guides
The Issue
Greenwashing is a term that refers to the act of falsely advertising products and services to make them seem better for the environment than they are. Greenwashed claims are often unsupported and mislead consumers. These claims are sometimes partially true, or the claim that they are making has a worse impact than the alternative.
The danger of false, unsubstantiated claims with little repercussion if the company is caught, can lead to consumers wanting to help the environment by purchasing certain products, to just the opposite. But there is a way to wash off the unclean green claims that these companies are making.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who oversees regulating advertising claims and attempts to protect consumers from fraudulent claims made by companies. One way they combated false “green” advertising was with the release of the Green Guides in 1992 and have been consistently updating them for the past 3 decades. These guides are a step in the right direction though. The guides were last updated in 2012 and notably did not include guidance on terms like “sustainable”, “natural”, or “organic” claims. The FTC has enforced its rules over misleading “green” advertising, most notably in the 2017 involving the Volkswagen emission scandal, but the enforcement actions against companies have steadily declined over the last decade and dwindled down to just one case in 2019 and 2020. (1)
Although the enforcement of these guides has been steadily declining, the number of “green” products on the market has increased significantly. With this increase in environmental claims, you would expect to see a rise in the number of enforcement actions carried out by the FTC, but the numbers don’t show that. (2) We urge the FTC and the United States government to implement more cut and dry guidelines for green advertising as well as harsher penalties against companies who can’t follow the guidelines.
By revising and strictly enforcing these guidelines, it would make it harder for companies to make overexaggerated and false claims. It would also help consumers feel more confident in trusting advertising that is presented to them.
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The Issue
Greenwashing is a term that refers to the act of falsely advertising products and services to make them seem better for the environment than they are. Greenwashed claims are often unsupported and mislead consumers. These claims are sometimes partially true, or the claim that they are making has a worse impact than the alternative.
The danger of false, unsubstantiated claims with little repercussion if the company is caught, can lead to consumers wanting to help the environment by purchasing certain products, to just the opposite. But there is a way to wash off the unclean green claims that these companies are making.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who oversees regulating advertising claims and attempts to protect consumers from fraudulent claims made by companies. One way they combated false “green” advertising was with the release of the Green Guides in 1992 and have been consistently updating them for the past 3 decades. These guides are a step in the right direction though. The guides were last updated in 2012 and notably did not include guidance on terms like “sustainable”, “natural”, or “organic” claims. The FTC has enforced its rules over misleading “green” advertising, most notably in the 2017 involving the Volkswagen emission scandal, but the enforcement actions against companies have steadily declined over the last decade and dwindled down to just one case in 2019 and 2020. (1)
Although the enforcement of these guides has been steadily declining, the number of “green” products on the market has increased significantly. With this increase in environmental claims, you would expect to see a rise in the number of enforcement actions carried out by the FTC, but the numbers don’t show that. (2) We urge the FTC and the United States government to implement more cut and dry guidelines for green advertising as well as harsher penalties against companies who can’t follow the guidelines.
By revising and strictly enforcing these guidelines, it would make it harder for companies to make overexaggerated and false claims. It would also help consumers feel more confident in trusting advertising that is presented to them.
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Petition created on November 20, 2022