Last week, I attended a briefing on the new Future Friendly label, which will soon be appearing on products that have in some way been declared 'good for the environment'.
In principle, the labels are a good idea, as they are all about encouraging consumers to take personal responsibility for the environment on the level of small actions anyone can take on a daily basis. There are lots of ways this is undoubtedly a good thing: if everyone made the tiny effort of not leaving appliances on standby, we'd collectively save the equivalent output of two and a half power stations a year. Small actions count.
But many have expressed scepticism at the introduction of these labels, not least because the labeled products' claims to greenness are in many cases, pretty flimsy...
Perhaps more significantly, all of the products getting the marque are made by the same company: Proctor and Gamble. At present, they are the cleaning products Lenor, Fairy, Ariel and Flash. It was argued that Lenor is a green choice because it uses smaller bottles than its rivals, and Fairy is greener because it's concentrated, and goes further. Nothing has been said about animal testing, the products 'chemical splash' or how they are transported and manufactured, but customers will naturally assume they are making a greener choice where these labels appear.
What do you think about the new labels?
Personally I think this is a crime! Lenor, Ariel, Fairy and Flash are about as future-friendly as Osama's bombs. It's all about big companies trying to green-wash consumers and many of those consumers will fall for it. It's a shame. I'll be sticking with my Ecover for now even though it doesn't have a green label.
The first time I see a P&G product with this label, I'm going to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.
I am with the previous comments - the only aim of this rubbish is to water-down genuine campaigns.
This should be done by an independent group. There is no way that this kind of review can be "fair" unless a 3rd party is making the call.
How misleading can you get?
this is appalling..... how can these products possibly be called "green". Yes, so concentrated products in theory are greener, but in reality, unless they are "dosed", which would mean more packaging, how many people use the correct smaller quantity???? Very few. I bet that they sell more of the concentrate than the original when a comparison is done.
I'll stick to eco balls and Ecover too.....