How many advertising execs does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? So many, it seems, that Washington has decided to take a look at how Madison Avenue markets eco-friendly products.
In the background of a series of reviews starting this week by the Federal Trade Commission of “green marketing” claims is a phenomenon that environmentalists call greenwashing, or inflating environmental initiatives to deflect criticism about environmentally destructive practices.
“As the opportunity to profit in this sector attracts more players, the potential for marketing claims to misleadingly portray the offset products in question also grows,” Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., wrote in July to the Federal Trade Commission’s chairwoman.
The trade commission will revise its green marketing guidelines based on discussions from this year’s workshops. The guidelines were last revised in the late 1990s.
A report in the fall by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing found in a study of 1,018 “green” products that all but one were marketed with false or misleading claims.
