Promo - March 2008 - (Page 10)

NEW ECO REGS? The FTC considers revising environmental marketing rules/Alan L. Friel The National Marketing Institute estimates in a recent report that consumers with environmental concerns represent over $230 billion in spending power. This fact has not been lost on media companies and advertisers. The Sundance Channel responded by launching a three-hour, primetime programming block known as The Green, which is hosted by Robert Redford. The programming during the block only allows sponsors that meet the network’s standards of environmental friendliness. An advisory board of environmentalists to Sundance helps it determine whether advertisers really are eco-minded and should be tied to the programming. Discovery Communications is launching a new 24-hour lifestyle and entertainment cable network with an emphasis on environmentalism and green living called Planet Green. Many advertisers now tout themselves or their products as being environmentally friendly. Marketers also typically make claims on packaging that their products have certain environmentally positive attributes. Some assert that they’re involved in programs that reduce their impact on greenhouse gas emissions, such as through carbon offsets and use of or support of renewable energy. The Federal Trade Commission also has been watching all the bandwagon hopping. As a result, the agency decided to revisit, earlier than it originally planned, its 1998 guidelines for environmental advertising claims, known as the Green Guides. A formal review of renewable energy, carbon offset and environmentally “sustainable” claims is now underway. In January the FTC held a workshop concerning carbon offset programs and renewable energy certificates and the marketing of or related to such programs. The agency is also planning additional workshops on various eco-marketing issues, and took public comments through last month on what it should be doing to regulate advertising and marketing that makes environmental claims. As stated in its current publication Complying with the Environmental Marketing Guides: “The FTC looks at all advertising from the consumer’s perspective. What message does the advertising actually convey to consumers?” In its recent request for public comments, the FTC noted that all green claim “qualifications and disclosures [need to] be sufficiently clear and prominent to prevent deception.” Under current law, marketers “must make clear whether: their claims apply to the product, the package or a compo- CHECK LIST The following check list is recommended as a starting point to avoid suspect green advertising claims: 1. Do you have valid substantiation for each express or implied claim made? 2. If claims are of a general nature, use new terms of art or use environmental symbols or images to convey green attributes, are they followed with a clear, conspicuous, accurate and verifiable explanation qualifying the basis of the claim? 3. If seals of approval or certifications are included, have you included an explanation of the basis of the award? Also, if the seal implies a third party has evaluated and certified the product, is it from a bona fide, independent and qualified third party? 4. If environmental symbols are used, can you substantiate the meaning reasonable customers would give to the symbol and substantiate the implied claim made by such use? The FTC calls for consumer research to form the basis for new symbols and provides specific guidance for the use of the “three chasing arrows” recycle symbol and the Society of Plastics Industry codes. 5. Have you specified the exact basis for the claim? Care should be taken in distinguishing products, practices, packaging and components, as applicable. 6. Do the claims exaggerate or overstate attributes or benefits? 7. Are the claims made in a manner that would be understandable to the typical consumer? 8. Are comparative claims clear as to the basis of the comparison? For instance, if the packaging is said to have “50% more recycled content,” explain to what it is being compared, such as “our previous package.” This also applies to “source reduction” claims such as “50% less plastic.” 9. If degradable, biodegradable, photodegradable, compostable, recyclable, recycled, ozone safe, no CFCs or refillable claims are made, are they done so in a manner that is consistent with the FTC’s current Green Guides? Note that the FTC finds “please recycle” on products or packaging to be deceptive if such item is capable of being recycled by a substantial majority of the consumers where it is sold. 10. If carbon offset, sustainability or renewal energy claims are made, have you explained in a manner that a typical consumer would understand what exactly is meant by these claims? Keep in mind that the FTC has concerns that consumers may have misperceptions about the meaning of these types of statements and is currently examining the issue. 10 March 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.promomagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - March 2008

Promo - March 2008 Editor's Note Girls' Club New Eco Regs? They're Not Going Anywhere Spreads Easily RFID Ramp-Up From Backyard to Broadcast Commentary VROOOM! Stuff We Can't Do Here Yet Q&A: Measuring Up Free Ink The Agency Center Resource Center Promotions 2.0 Index of Advertisers

Promo - March 2008

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