Greenwashing the Truth: How Eco-Friendly Are Your Products?

The Hidden Truth Behind Labels

There you are in the grocery store. You enter into the skincare aisle, looking for all the necessary products. Maybe you’d like some deodorant, or perhaps some moisturizer. How could you possibly choose? There are dozens upon dozens of options, all making very similar claims. Many simply choose the more affordable option, but not you. You are informed, and thus you want to make the more moral choice. You care for the environment and don’t mind spending an extra few dollars to protect our world.

Noble as these intentions may be, there is a sinister secret hiding behind the innocent labels. Beneath the brightly colored veneer, and the proud claims of ‘safe for the environment’ and ‘eco-friendly’, there is a hidden truth.

Most of conventionally sold products are NOT eco-friendly, not by a long shot. There is a subtle campaign ongoing that is deceiving well-intentioned consumers, and here we will show you the tactics of deception.

Back to the aforementioned grocery store trip. There you are in the skincare section. There are these seemingly endless amounts of product available, and to further complicate matters, they are all making similar claims. This can be extremely tricky. So, what are you to do? After all, you have a lot on your plate, you don’t have hours to spend researching companies and the ethics of their business practices.

Don’t worry, conducting an investigation can be quite simple. All you need to know are the telltale signs. When a company is out there greenwashing its customers, there is usually a specific process.

False Advertising Is Illegal, So How Do Companies Work Around This?

Let’s be clear, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces some fairly strict laws regarding false advertising. So companies generally cannot outright lie about such things. Therefore looking for a blatant lie won’t help you. Companies won’t do it, and they don’t have to anyway. There is another way to do such things.

Pick any random product and give the label a good once-over. No need for detective style magnifying glasses, or looking for some hidden enigma. Your job is fairly easy, what you are looking for is probably in big letters, and made to look like some sort of quasi-official stamp.

Look for the words ‘eco-friendly’, ‘green’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘recyclable’, or ‘safe for the environment’. Nothing wrong with any of these terms, in and of themselves. In fact these are very nice things that would resonate with any well intentioned consumer.

Here’s the catch; none of the above terms actually mean anything. I will do a basic walk through to explain how companies can legally make these claims. After all the FTC is quite strict on falsely advertising products, hence why companies don’t make false claims.

The Terms To Watch Out For

Green – A meaningless term. Anyone can put green on there without any reprecussions.

Bio-degradable – This one is interesting, as it does sort of make a claim. To the best of my knowledge no company outright lies about being bio-degradable. What you aren’t being told with this big logo is that the product in question is only bio-degradable in certain conditions such as under high heat or what have you. They aren’t required to disclose information like this in the label, so long as it is bio-degradable, independantly of how, then you are allowed to make the claim.

Recyclable – This is a claim, no question about it. Whatever you are selling, it MUST be recyclable, no wiggle room here. Well, except for one minor detail. You do not have to disclose how much of your products is recyclable. See there is the rub.

Carbon Nuetral or Zero Emissions – Make no mistake about this one, you most certainly have to back this up. The only thing is, you do not have to back up WHEN you make such a claim. Allow me to simplify, virtually every single company imaginable has the goal of becoming carbon nuetral or having zero emissions, and they have a set date to accomplish this goal. So long as you have the goal, even if that goal is about twenty years into the future, you can place this onto your label. It’s perfectly legal given companies nowhere on the label actually state they are cabon nuetral, merely that this is a goal they are working towards.

Completely Irrelevant Information – This one is one of my favorites, because unlike the other labels, this one is absolutely accurate and truthful. Usually the labels will make a claim such as CFC (chlorofluerocarbons) free. This is a wonderful thing, CFC’s have been shown to deplete the ozone in our airpsace, and I personally am very happy companies are not using this dangerous chemical. I am also happy that such companies are finally complying with international law from thirty years ago. That’s right, CFC’s have been banned internationally, since the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987. There is no lie in the claim to be CFC free, it’s just that this is an utterly irrelevant fact. It would be similar to advertising lead-free paint. Sadly the majority of consumers have never even heard of the Montreal Protocol, and therefore have been baboozled through no fault of their own, merely that they have been fooled by their own ignorance.

Is Anyone Telling the Truth?

It would be natural at this point to wonder if there’s anybody out there telling the truth, and who could blame you? But there is no need to doubt all people, nor things. This is actually pretty simple.

At Face Naturals, there is no such ridiculous claims being made. We do not make false claims, we do not make generic statements in an attempt to mislead you. None of that. We handcraft all our products, and therefore do not utilize large factories sending all manner of harmful pollutants. All of which hopefully makes the case that we as a company are far more committed to the well being of our world.

In short if what you are looking for is actually less claims. You don’t want to see generic claims, nor be swooned by meaningless nonsense. We use organic ingredients, natural and right from the Earth.

In conclusion, you now have the ability to arm yourself with the most valuable weapon possible in your arsenal, you have the truth. With the truth, you are now unstoppable.