Advertising Industry taking steps to combat “greenwash”

Advertising regulatory bodies, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), have updated the codes of practice of the advertising industry. It is a move to stop advertisers exaggerating the environmental credentials of their products.

The updates are aimed more at the broadcasting code, as the radio and non-broadcast parts have been covered already. As of 1st September 2010, any green claims made by advertisers will need a “high level of substantiation”. The government itself has already been warned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for using the infamous IPCC report on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers to support its drive to curb carbon emissions.
“A false cure is worse than none,” says Cathy Anderson, marketing director at Greenpeace. “Removing greenwash from the airwaves is a vital step towards removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and we hope this new rule will make that task easier.”
Let’s hope this puts an end to all the “greenwash”... Read more.