The Better Business Bureau (BBB), known for being the home of NAD, CARU and other advertising self-regulatory forums, is now also the proud owner of an updated advertising code.  The BBB announced earlier this month significant updates to its Code of Advertising for the first time since 1985 (when the number one single was “Careless Whisper” by Wham.)

In a press release, the BBB indicated that changes to the Code were made “to reflect the many new ways that advertisers reach consumers via websites, social media, texting and other channels.”
Continue Reading BBB Updates Advertising Code to Keep Pace with Technology

Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent warning letters to 20 manufacturers and marketers of dog waste bags because claims that the bags are “biodegradable,” “compostable,” and other green claims may be deceptive.

As we blogged about in last October, the FTC issued warning letters to companies about their claims that their plastic was biodegradable or “oxodegradable.”  The warning letters involved advertising that products were “biodegradable” when in fact, they would not degrade under normal conditions of disposal in landfills within a “reasonably short period of time,” as required under the Green Guides.  The most recent revisions of the Green Guides had warned that unqualified “biodegradable” claims were deceptive if the items customarily disposed of in landfills would not decompose within one year in such an environment.Continue Reading Marketers and Sellers of Animal Waste Bags May Be in the Doghouse for Biodegradable and Compostable Claims

“Paper or plastic?”  The age-old question, complicated by the creation of biodegradable plastic, has been broken down more.  Many people’s misgivings about using plastic bags were alleviated with the advent of plastic bags that can carry more weight with less guilt.  However, after this week, there is no question that the FTC is serious about

Advertisers seek out third-party certifications and endorsements for their environmental efforts as a means of providing credibility to green claims made to consumers.  Indeed, the FTC’s Green Guides make clear that companies who choose instead to “self-certify” must make that fact clear to consumers precisely because consumers may view self-certification with more skepticism.

But can an environmental seal also operate as a shield against legal liability?  Chiquita may be about to find out.  The Seattle-based Water and Sanitation Health (WASH) Group has taken issue with green bananas (no one likes the green ones, do they?) and filed a lawsuit against Chiquita alleging that the Company’s claim that its bananas are grown in an ecologically friendly and sustainable manner is deceptive. 
Continue Reading Is Chiquita in a Bunch of Trouble Over Green Claims?

While enjoying these lovely summer days, did you ever wonder how many milk jugs or detergent bottles went into making that “green” picnic table you’re sitting at? You may now. The already peculiar concept of “plastic lumber” is further complicated when manufacturers make false statements about its contents. As new products emerge touting environmental attributes,

In its most recent effort to police the accuracy of environmental claims, the FTC took action against Down to Earth Designs, Inc. marketers of gDiapers, a product that consists of a reusable outer “pant” and removable inserts.  The agency alleges that the company ran afoul of the requirements for environmental claims laid out in the FTC’s “Green Guides” by making unqualified claims that the gDiaper inserts and wipes are plastic free, compostable, and biodegradable when flushed or thrown out.

The complaint alleges that the unqualified biodegradable claims are misleading because the majority of the inserts will eventually end up in a landfill, either because users throw them in the trash or flush them, where they are subsequently filtered out of the water as part of the treatment process and sent to a landfill.  The FTC takes the position that once in a landfill, it is impossible for a material to degrade within a reasonably short period of time. All regrettable diaper puns aside, there are lessons to be learned from this, and other recent green claim enforcement actions, for companies that wish to avoid getting in deep… trouble.  
Continue Reading FTC Finds Green Diaper Claims Full of …Leaks

graduate-plastics_smTo paraphrase Mr. McGuire in The Graduate, “There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?”  Well, the FTC clearly has taken that advice and has been thinking about the future of plastics in landfills.  When the FTC announced its revised Green Guides slightly more than a year ago they amended their guidance on biodegradability to make clear that unqualified biodegradability claims cannot be made for products that are customarily disposed of in landfills.  In doing so, the FTC rejected comments that suggested it adopt a scientific protocol safe harbor for biodegradability claims because it felt that no such protocol exists that adequately replicates real world landfill conditions.

Well the FTC made it clear this week that they meant what they said.  The Commission announced five enforcement actions involving plastic biodegradability claims and another case involving a more general biodegradability claim.  This confirms what we’ve been telling people – biodegradability claims are the most common type of environmental cases brought by the agency and after yesterday there isn’t even a close runner- up.
Continue Reading We Have One Word for You: Plastics.

In a recent NAD case Honeywell International, Inc. challenged claims made by Nest Labs, Inc. for its Nest Programmable Thermostats in print and internet advertising. Honeywell challenged several performance-related “up to” claims (claims that convey performance-capacity/energy-savings “up to” a certain percentage point). Rather than run through each claim in the 30+ page decision and the arguments on each side in their entirety, it is perhaps most ‘energy efficient,’ if you will, to evaluate NAD’s decisions related to the max performance claims.
Continue Reading How to Keep Cool with all of the Confusing Cases with ‘Up To’ Claims?

When the FTC released its revised Green Guides last October, the Agency provided detailed guidance on a number of topics but declined to provide guidance on the claim of “sustainability.”  In doing so, the Commission noted that its job is not to define terms but rather to help advertisers avoid making claims in a manner