New FTC Environmental Marketing Guidelines – Cone's First Impressions…
A blog summary and video response from Cone's Chief Reputation Officer, Mike Lawrence
After a series of hearings and two years of anticipation, the FTC yesterday issued much-needed updated guidance on how to responsibly market and advertise the environmental impact of products.
The top line is this: If a company wants to make a claim, it has to provide data at point of purchase to prove the claim. This means no more general claims, like “We're eco friendly,” unless the marketer defines exactly how, with facts, on the package.
The Commission is proposing to tighten rules for claims about a product’s degradability – by saying how fast something has to degrade and by banning use of the term if a product is headed for a landfill or incinerator.
The FTC also wants to limit the use of the word “recyclable” to describe a product; if recycling programs aren’t widely available where the product is sold, the marketing needs to admit that.
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