By Cate Nelson •
July 28, 2009
Mama bloggers get a lot of free stuff. And that was one of the issues discussed at BlogHer ‘09. There, I met many ladies who said the boxes of goodies would be piled high by the time they got home.
Companies look for cheap advertising in the form of positive reviews. And they often turn to broke mom bloggers with the promise of free stuff to lure them into a few kind words.
And as “green” has become the “new black”, many products are greenwashed, hocked to green-minded bloggers in the hopes that we’ll overlook some of the obvious faults and rebrand the crap the product for them.
Maybe you and I know to look for parabens and fragrance, but does the average blogger, who may gush over the “green”?
NPR’s All Things Considered looked at the swag issue on Monday.
Though much of my time over the past couple of weeks has been devoted to the behind-the-scenes work of bringing The Inspired Economist into the Green Options Media blog network, I’ve also made sure to follow the discussion regarding Wal-Mart’s comments to the FTC regarding carbon offsets and renewable energy credits. In a post titled “Wal-Mart Lobbies Against Carbon Offset Guidelines,” Tony Calero at Wal-Mart Watch got this discussion started by pointing to the company’s comments filed in response to an FTC request:
Herein lays the scandal: Despite the company’s “green” initiatives, Wal-Mart is actively lobbying against the clarification of offset guidelines. The company’s hypocritical stance on the issue came to light last week in a hearing of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is attempting to modernize the “Green Guides,” guidelines issued for corporations defining acceptable marketing claims regarding environmental products and initiatives. In response to the FTC’s solicitation of retailer comment to guide the process, Wal-Mart’s Director of Energy Regulation, Angela Beehler, expressed Wal-Mart’s firm opposition towards the clarified scope and definition of carbon offsets…
As you might imagine, other media outlets picked up on this pretty quickly: Grist, for instance, noted that Consumers Union and other groups have “been advocating for clear, specific definitions to avoid misleading green claims, ” and that “the FTC’s definition of carbon offsets could most affect the retailer’s ultra-ambitious goal to someday run on 100 percent renewable energy — a huge amount of which would likely have to come from offsets or renewable-energy certificates.” US News and World Report’s “Fresh Greens” blog asked “Is Wal-Mart being hypocritical, or are its green efforts in good faith?” Eoin O’Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor’s “Bright Green Blog” not only expressed a reaction similar to my own (essentially head-scratching), but also took a step further than the rest of us: he gave Wal-Mart a call. Much of the response he received followed the typical MO of a corporate communications department: the company restated its broad sustainability goals, and offered some more specific ones related to greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency. It addressed offsets and renewable energy credits in the last paragraph:
By mcmilker •
April 21, 2008
Some scary truths about consumers’ assumptions could lead to a “green” backlash concludes The Green Gap Survey, released this week by Cone LLC and The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.
We in the business of making environmentally friendly and natural product know that little regulation exists around the terms, “green,” “environmentally friendly,” and “natural.” But, consumers don’t and are, perhaps naively, trusting.
- 47 percent trust companies to tell them the truth in environmental messaging
- 45 percent believe companies are accurately communicating information about their impact on the environment
- 61 percent of Americans say they understand the environmental terms companies use in their advertising
By Timothy B. Hurst •
February 27, 2008
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission conducted hearings and convened a workshop for scientists, economists, environmental activists and representatives of the leading American retailers of ‘carbon offsets’ and ‘renewable energy credits’ (RECs) to learn more about the rather opaque business models and practices of some companies.
Though the hearings were only exploratory in nature, the FTC was able to address some of the concerns and misgivings the public has about unregulated voluntary [...]
Mama bloggers get a lot of free stuff. And that was one of the issues discussed at BlogHer ‘09. There, I met many ladies who said the boxes of goodies would be piled high by the time they got home.
