days gone by, the holiday gift-giving ritual was simpler than it is today. We only had two decisions to make – what to buy and whether the item was in a suitable price range. Today however, responsible shoppers are concerned with a third factor – a gifts environmental impact.
It’s become apparent to consumers that the cost of products goes beyond the price tag. Consumers want to know if the product they’re buying contributes to resource depletion, whether it’s recycled or recyclable, if it’s biodegradable, if the packaging creates excess waste, and how long before the product itself finds its way to the waste stream.
Marketers are well aware of this emerging shift in consumer sentiment, which is why today there are so many products in the marketplace which come with ‘green’ product claims such as “eco-friendly”, “green”, “sustainably made”, and “environmentally safe”. The problem is that these claims are easy to make and hard to prove, leaving consumers confused and sometimes misled about the environmental attributes ascribed to many products.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in the interest of protecting consumers from false product claims, has developed new standards for truth in ‘green’ advertising. They have updated their Green Guides by providing a list of definitions for commonly used ‘green product’ claims. The intent is to help marketers use correct terminology in packaging and promotion, and to help consumers better understand the new terminology.
- See more at: http://learn.eartheasy.com/2012/11/understanding-green-product-marketing-claims/#sthash.ecFPZHlg.dpuf