December 23rd, 2009

FTC Green Guide Insights

I attended an FDU Institute for Sustainable Enterprise event last week, in Madison, NJ, where an FTC official gave a nice overview of the FTC’s position on green marketing.

Leonard Gordon is the director of the Northeast Regional Office and his presentation started with the FTC’s simple premise that marketers should (1) tell the truth and (2) be able to substantiate their claims.  Many greenwashers have not followed these simple guidelines.

Mr. Gordon outlined how the FTC’s Green Guides, which are currently being revised:

• Apply to all forms of marketing claims;
• Apply to B2C and B2B claims; and
• Don’t set performance standards or serve as eco-labels

He further outlined how claims the FTC addresses fall under five traditional types, including general environmental benefits, degrable and biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, and recycled content.  He then went into more detail for each of these types.  The FTC’s current review of its Green Guides also includes review, specifically, of carbon offsets and RECs, green packaging claims and green buildings and textiles.

Some other interesting take-aways included:

• FTC is looking at paid blogging as advertising for purposes of its Green Guides, so companies may be held accountable for claims made by bloggers they pay
• Certification by any one or more of the hundreds of thirdy-party certifiers and eco labels does not insulate advertisers, and they will be held accountable for any claims in connection with such certification
• FTC is in the process of analyzing research it conducted on how consumers understand and interpret various green claims

The FTC’s revised Green Guides will likely be out in the near future. That fact, combined with the FTC’s recent flurry of enforcement actions and promise of closer scrutiny to continue, should be a warning to the proliferation of greenwashers and greenwashing that has been occuring in the marketplace.

For additional insight, see our earlier blog posts mentioning FTC or Green Guides:

• Will We See a Federal Eco-Label Program Soon?
• FTC Guidelines & Green DNA