Consumers Are Increasingly Skeptical of Green Ad Claims

So much for happy babies playing in flower-flecked fields dappled with sunlight...in ads for gasoline. Or most other products for that matter.

Research suggests that consumers are increasingly skeptical of advertisers' claims for their products. Some of the doubts come from confusion over the wording of studiously non-specific phrases like 'environmentally friendly' or 'positive environmental impact.'

It is apparent, however, that some of these questions are the result of the fierce - and well funded - marketing campaigns supported by organizations created to oppose environmental regulations, sustainability requirements and other public policy initiatives designed to improve environmental conditions thought to impose burdens on business and industry. The companies in question, and the front advocacy groups they have established, appear to have succeeded in tamping down public support for green issues, or at least in raising doubts about their goals.

These public doubts have had the perhaps unintended consequence of undermining acceptance of corporate advertising playing to what was well-researched public support for such goals. Such support for non polluting actions may have not diminished but it has raised public awareness about false claims, making the marketing challenge that much harder for those who wish to attempt it.

The combination of an increasingly well-informed and mistrustful public may serve to undermine other marketing and corporate communications themes, as well. However, if marketers respond in a positive fashion by addressing the cynicism head-on - and by actually making verifiable claims, they may ultimately strengthen the credibility of such messaging in the long run. JL

Jack Neff reports in Advertising Age:

The percentage of consumers who say they don't know if companies' environmental claims are accurate doubled to 22% between 2008 and 2013
in GfK's annual Green Gauge tracking survey. The percentage who said they don't know how well businesses fulfill their responsibility to the environment tripled to 10% over the same period.

Nearly a year after the Federal Trade Commission updated its guidelines for environmental advertising, consumers appear more confused or doubtful than ever about what green-marketing claims actually mean.

The GfK data jibes with other research such as that from Cone Communications earlier this year showing that while 40% of people think "environmentally friendly" means a product has a positive environmental impact, 22% think it means only a neutral impact and 9% think it means nothing.
Among consumers in the GfK survey who weren't confused, more than 40% thought green claims were inaccurate, said Tim Kenyon, a senior consultant with the market research firm.
Consumer confusion may abate as the FTC enforces recommendations in its Green Guides, because a key theme is steering marketers toward making specific claims and away from generalities, such as putting a leaf on a package, according to Jacquelyn Ottman and David Mallen, co-authors of a new Advertising Age research report, "How to Make Credible Green Marketing Claims: What Marketers Need to Know About the Updated FTC Green Guides."
Some marketers have ended up on the wrong side of recent rulings by the FTC and the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus for implying broad environmental benefits based on a very specific attribute, said Mr. Mallen, deputy director of the NAD.
"My prediction is we're going to see a lot fewer babies, planets and daisies in green advertising as a result of these guides," said Ms. Ottman, principal of New York-based environmental consulting firm J. Ottman Consulting. "We're going to see a lot more specificity."