"The Clean Green Advertising Scheme"
Written by Michelle McRory | Photos by Sita Thompson



Celeste Patten stands in the personal care aisle at Fred Meyer. She picks up a bottle of lotion with the words "all natural" highlighted on the label, flicks open the lid and smells the contents. Unimpressed, she places the lotion back on the shelf. Next to her is a shopping basket carrying bottles of shampoo and conditioner, both labeled "pro-organic."

A sea of so-called green products is flooding supermarket shelves, enticing conscious consumers with environmental buzzwords. The "go green" phenomenon reflects a market searching for safer alternatives to products thought to adversely affect consumer health and the environment, according to the National Center for Environmental Economics.

Even companies like Clorox have jumped on the green bandwagon. But with no regulations on advertising, consumers are losing their bearings in the marketplace. The new trend has some companies painting a greener picture than they deserve.

The increased use of green advertisements triggered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review the Environmental Claims Marketing Guidelines in 2008, a year earlier than anticipated, said Laura Koss, staff attorney for the FTC.

The FTC guidelines serve as an educational tool for companies on how to properly label their environmentally-friendly products. Although the guide aims to protect consumers from being misled, it is merely a set of suggestions, and therefore is not enforceable by law.

If a company’s claim is blatantly false, the state may use the guidelines as support for legal action against the advertisement. Enforcement at the state level can prevent dishonest practices, but with each state entitled to its own set of regulations and no national standard, companies are left with ambiguous guidelines. Consumers like Patten are left standing in the aisle wondering if the words "pro-organic" hold any value.

When knowing what to look for, reading labels empowers consumers to make the right decisions in the supermarket, said Aileen Zerrudo, Clorox’s senior group manager.

According to the FTC, consumers should be wary of slogans like "earth smart," "eco-safe," "all natural" and other vague terms, unless companies can prove the claim.

Environmentally-conscious purchases are not limited to products themselves. Packaging is offered in all shades of green from "reusable," "degradable" and "compostable" to "post- or pre-consumer waste." But no matter what label is used, proof must accompany the statement, Koss said.

Instead of wax-lined cups made of polyolefin, which is derived from non-renewable petroleum, Tully’s Coffee Corporation uses ecotainers. The cups are lined with corn-derived ingredients and are 100 percent compostable – but this is only useful if the cups are actually composted.

Materials degrade slowly in landfills, which are engineered to keep sunlight, air and moisture out of the facility. Hot dogs dating back ten years have been found in landfills, according to a press release by the Biodegradable Products Institute.

Understanding the setbacks, Tully’s hired Cedar Grove Composting to compost the ecotainers disposed of in all Tully’s Washington retail stores.

Green claims are not always transparent. A bottle reading "25 percent less waste" is unclear. Is it "less waste" compared to its previous product, or its competitors’?

Discredit any claim if it offers no further detail accompanying the statement on the label or the company’s Web site, according to the FTC. A consumer must see through the advertisement or become yet another victim of greenwashing – the act of misleading consumers with false environmental claims.

Taking matters into her own hands, Patten searches the shampoo bottle for an indication of an environmental packaging merit, but finds nothing.

"Maybe the product is better for me, but not the earth," she said.

As Patten inspects the label further, she finds a mixture of organic and natural ingredients – two phrases that are not interchangeable.

In order for a product to have a label including the word "organic," the organic ingredients must be certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Products labeled "organic" or "100 percent organic" bear the USDA stamp, which cannot appear on any products with fewer than 95 percent certified organic ingredients.

Other products containing at least 70 percent organic ingredients, however, can be labeled "made with organic ingredients." Although they don’t have the USDA logo, the organic ingredients in these products are still certified by the USDA. Products with fewer than 70 percent organic ingredients can only use the word "organic" on their ingredient lists, and nowhere else on their labels.

Unlike the term organic, the word "natural" remains unregulated. This leaves the interpretation of "natural" ingredients up to manufacturers. Since no government standards define specific eco-terms except organic, a chemical cocktail shows up in many "natural" products.

A study by The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) tested over 100 natural and organic products for a chemical called dioxane, a toxin known to cause cancer in animals and possibly humans. None of the certified organic products contained detectable levels of the chemical, but traces of the toxin were found in 47 natural products. The study found 1.9 parts per million of the same agent in Seventh Generation Dish Liquid, a cleaner claiming to be natural.

Although the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed the levels safe, Seventh Generation’s President Jeffrey Hollander began to eliminate the chemical from their product line, according to Seventh Generation’s 2007 Corporate Consciousness Report.

To avoid exposure to toxic chemicals, consumers should choose products with the least amount of ingredients on the label, according to the OCA. The FDA requires manufacturers to list all ingredients in descending order of concentration. A product with lavender water listed first on the label is better than one with fragrance, one scent that may be composed of up to 3,000 separate, mostly synthetic ingredients, according to the National Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

Understanding consumer skepticism, Clorox sought out third-party recognition for their product Green Works, a line of natural cleaners.

"We wanted to show this is the real deal," Zerrudo said.

In the absence of national standards, looking for third-party endorsements helps consumers sort through the green hype. Both the Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment (DfE) and the Sierra Club’s logos are stamped on the Green Work’s label.

Yet each logo represents different information. The Sierra Club’s logo represents Clorox’s financial support for the organization, Zerrudo said. The DfE seal, although not from a true certification program, signifies the product uses the least harmful ingredients possible.

But no matter how enticing a green advertisement is to consumers, all products have an environmental footprint. Every stage of a product’s life cycle – the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing and distributing, use and disposal – has an impact on the environment.

BioKleen, a Vancouver, Washington-based company, gained recognition from the DfE on their line of cleaners. As a mother and wife, Amanda Tiedt, BioKleen’s marketing director, said looking beyond the price of a product to its contents keeps her focused in the supermarket.

Tiedt said concentrated products like BioKleen represent a well-rounded green choice. The products last longer, creating less packaging and waste.

Consumers drowning in the green wave are searching for a rescue line from companies and products with honest intentions. Reading labels, questioning advertisements and looking for third-party certifications can guide the weary consumer.

Fragrances hang thick in the narrow aisle corridor where Patten stands. What was supposed to be a quick stop for shampoo turns into a prolonged engagement.

Finally, she deems the certified organic oils superior to the synthetic, petroleum-based fragrances. Although Patten may not realize it, her choice results in better health for her and the environment.

Michelle McRory studies environmental education. She has been published in the Western Front and The Imokilly People.