NEW YORK, N.Y. — Following a complaint from a competitor to Clorox, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has recommended that Clorox change some of the claims it's making about its Green Works products.
Clorox
launched the Green Works line of cleaners, endorsed by the Sierra Club, earlier this year. S.C. Johnson & Son challenged claims in advertisements and product labels that said Green Works products "work just as well as traditional cleaners," "work as well as conventional cleaners," and "cuts through this greasy mess as well as the leading spray cleaner."
NAD determined that Green Works products are comparable to other cleaners when it comes to removing most soils, but that they do not perform as well when it comes to cleaning tough grease. Green Works products also not kill germs. The NAD has recommended Clorox alter the claims in order to better communicate product performance and clarify that the products are not disinfectants.
Clorox has said it will comply with the NAD's recommendation to not say Green Works products “work as well” as other cleaners, and said it will take into consideration the NAD's recommendation that it modify or stop using a side-by-side grease-cleaning demonstration that compares Green Works to a “leading competitor.”
As more green products come onto the market and more companies use terms like "sustainable" and "eco-friendly," countries and advertising regulators have been discussing what phrases and claims to allow and what to deny.
Canadian ad monitors issued new guidelines this year and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has been reviewing its
Green Guides since November 2007.
