June 23, 2009, - 8:06 pm
Another Fake Green: Most Eco-Friendly Claims Are a Crock
By Debbie Schlussel
It’s not just the Islamic green people are donning in solidarity with extremists in Iran that’s fake.
The other green–eco-friendly claims on products–are also often fake. They’re no different than “Soylent Green”–the product made from you know what from the Charlton Heston movie of the same name.
And it’s yet more evidence that this eco-maniacal stuff is just an empty fad. A trendy, hip thing that’s expensive and harmful for America.
The federal watchdog that’s supposed to crack down on product labels that make false environmental claims has taken almost no enforcement action over the last decade, even as “green” marketing claims have exploded, agency records show.
Companies touting eco-friendly products or biodegradable packaging are supposed to abide by guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission in 1992. The FTC can take companies that ignore the so-called “Green Guides” to court and seek fines to reimburse consumers.
Since May 2000, the FTC has taken legal action against only three companies for violating the guidelines. All three complaints were announced June 9, the day of a congressional hearing about environmental marketing.
Hey, whatta coincidence! Or as the French would say, “Quelle Coincidence!”
“There has been little to no enforcement of the 1992 guides,” says environmental consultant Kevin Tuerff, whose company started a website aimed at exposing ads with questionable environmental claims. “They need to pick up the pace.”
Uh, no, they don’t. If fools want to believe in this BS, let ’em part with their money over this false eco-religion. Not the American taxpayers’ job to police their fads and mind cults.
From 1992 to 2000, the FTC generally filed two or more complaints a year, but enforcement dropped off under President Bush.
The FTC’s James Kohm acknowledges the agency hasn’t aggressively enforced its main environmental guidelines in recent years, in part because of a lack of resources. . . .
The companies cited by the commission June 9 improperly advertised their products as “biodegradable.” All three cases were filed May 20.
Environmental marketing has exploded recently: a survey in the last year by environmental marketer TerraChoice of 12 large U.S. stores found more than 1,700 products that boasted of green credentials. Eco-friendly claims are made by items ranging from liquor to sport-utility vehicles to pesticides.
In my view, I’m glad the government isn’t looking into these claims. If you buy something based on eco-friendly fantasies, you’re a fool. And you deserved to be scammed by these mini-scams based on the giant scams called “climate change” and “global warming.” No amount of government waste and bureaucratic advertising police will cure that, nor should it.
Still, whether or not they are investigating truth in eco-advertising, here’s my shameless–but true–eco-friendly marketing ploy: DebbieSchlussel.com . . . no paper (unless you print it out), zero waste, zilch carbon footprint, 100% biodegradable. But one caveat: we don’t recycle here. It’s mostly new (and improved).
Deb –
Once more, allow me to recommend ‘The Buccaneer’ as an excellent movie from 1958 with Charlton Heston channeling Old Hickory…
“By The Eternal!”, ol’Andy would fix all this….
Nick Fury on June 23, 2009 at 10:00 pm