Greenwashing Foes Tackle Food and Fitness Marketing with Health Claims

A marketing company that bills itself as a “champion of authentic green marketing” and crusades against product “greenwashing” claims has launched a new website on which the health-related claims of food and fitness products can be rated. EnviroMedia Social Marketing created the online tool to expose “exaggerated or misleading health claims through advertising, marketing or packaging,” a practice it has dubbed “leanwashing.” When visited on March 15, 2012, the website, which uses a 1-5 rating scale with 1 corresponding to “authentic” ad claims and 5 corresponding to “bogus” product representations, listed a number of sugary cereal products at the high end of the scale and products such as POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate juice on the low end. Children’s products are rated using a separate set of criteria. Consumers are urged to post and rate ads on the site. See BusinessWire, March 13, 2012.