You’re Green? Ok, Prove It.

While once being friendly to the environment was only important after running a company that provided quality products at low prices, today, more and more consumers are interested in only shopping if a company is as green as possible.

And you know what that means – everyone and their mom is jumping on the “green” bandwagon. Because the FTC never regulated the word use, companies who did little more than put a recycling bin in the corner of their massive smog-producing plant began claiming that they were going green.

Like the good little consumers we were, we jumped on board.

However, as I reported earlier this week, recent findings show that people are beginning to be more savvy about greenwashing – ie, companies claiming to go green just for the good publicity.

It looks like the FTC is responding to our collective cry for change. Bottom line? It is CONFUSING to consumer who want to shop in an environmentally-minded way if there were no guidelines for marketers using the term “green” (and other related terms). Just like the FDA slapped rules on the term organic, the FTC needs to regulate terms for the environment as well.

The FTC is set to meet again this month and this topic is sure to be on the agenda. The situation is open for comments until May, but by the end of 2008, there will hopefully be new rules in place to help consumers.

Source: Washington Times