An Audit of FTC Environmental Claims on Packaged Goods

Environmental marketing issues have captured the attention of consumers, manufacturers, government regulators, package designers, and marketers. Many industries have rushed to bring to consumers' attention the environmental benefits of their products and packaging. As a result, consumers have been exposed to a variety of unfamiliar and often ambiguous terms. Environmental claims such as biodegradable, compostable, and environmentally safe are becoming relatively common in the marketplace, but are unfamiliar to most consumers. At best, many of these claims have no clear meaning and are subject to interpretation; at worst, they are deceptive or misleading. In an attempt to level the playing field for both marketers and consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, 1992) issued environmental marketing guidelines in 1992. This article will describe the FTC Guidelines and a research project designed to assess their impact on environmental claims found on selected packaged goods sold in supermarkets. Implications for educators will also be identified. Previous Research Environmental claims present several challenges to marketers and consumers. Marketers must decide whether an environmental claim will be as relevant to consumers as claims about a product's other attributes, such as value or nutrition. Since consumers continue to be skeptical about environmental claims, marketers must assess whether their claim will be credible. Another challenge for marketers is to craft a claim that will not draw the ire of various local, state, and federal regulators and environmental groups. Consumers also face challenges. Environmental claims often relate to product characteristics with which a consumer has little experience or knowledge. Cude (1993) found that less than one-third of consumers understood the meaning of postconsumer and preconsumer recycled content,) two terms that appear regularly on packaging. Even if a consumer understands the meaning of a term, he or she ma