Just like all religions, Environmentalism gets used and abused by people who will twist the message for their own personal or corporate gain.

Now, send me $5 and I'll plant a tree.

@torgonius: to some, environmentalism IS a religion...I think they call them zealots *cough*Greenpeace*cough*

"Our product will also make you feel better about yourself!"

An insidious, yet often effective, marketing tactic to say the least.

What about the Toyota Prius? How many people know that the car involves all sorts of bad things like Chinese strip mining.
And then there is the ponzi scheme known as carbon credits.

"Nearly all Product Claims Are Misleading"

There was a small error in the headline. Hope you don't mind, I went ahead and fixed it for ya!

its not about Eco or going green. Its about collecting THE green!

@takes_so_little: Damn typo. How did that "eco" get in there?

Shocking - marketing copy is misleading!

I just bought what I was led to believe was an eco-friendly CFC-powered smog machine. Maybe I shouldn't have trusted the label claims.

Since when is it safe to assume that ANY product claims are honest?

@Scoobatz: But its painted green! If its green its good! thats the TV box tolded me...

@zentex: If you really think that Greenpeace are zealots then you know nothing of radical environmentalism.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@SarcasticDwarf: Moreso I think companies realize that making some claim about how they are helping the environment makes them look good to consumers, at the same time how many consumers will actually do any research to verify said claim? Very few.

It's about perception, NOT reality, just like most other forms of marketing.

In order to mitigate the deceptiveness of these claims, I am obtaining 250,000 carbon offsets in Consumerist's and my name:

@AllToAll,ByMyMustard!_GitEmSteveDave: You are a true environmentalist and a hero to us all.

I held my breath while typing this post, so it's carbon-neutral.

@I Love New Jersey: Shhhhh about the carbon credits, I've been writing "carbon credit" on monopoly money and selling them outside Earthfares, apple stores, Whole Foods grocery stores and other places where green sorts gather.

I saw a Ziploc baggie commercial, and they said they used "less plastic, but with no additional cost"
So a plastic product uses less plastic, but I can still pay the same price for the product? Lucky me.

Perhaps I should invest in a company that sells Global Cooling awareness cold weather apparel, for when the opinion shifts back to cooling like it did when the first Earth Day was created by an ad executive,Julian Koenig, who decided to hold Earth Day on his Birthday.

The whole eco/green movement has its roots in economics and politics. Regardless of what you believe about global warming (and regardless of the actual facts), the resultant hysteria and eco/green movement is strictly about money and power.

And, yeah, the whole "carbon offsets" thing is ridiculous.

This isn't surprising... it is sad however, since it gives fodder to people like those above bashing the Climate Change situation. These same people refuse to see evolution as factual as well.... sorry people the best evidence out there is that both are real... until you provide credible, provable evidence otherwise- these are going to remain the prevailing scientific theories and hypothesis.
As someone posted above, whether it's religion or a major movement, people are susceptible to being manipulated because they think they're doing right. How does the saying go...? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions..."

same with the "organic" label on everything nowadays

@rellog321: I believe Hemingway said it in the most appropriate way for The Consumerist:

"The road to hell is paved with unbought stuffed dogs."

@B1663R: There are at least legal requirements for the use of that label--not the most stringent, admittedly, but they're there. But there's no law against Phillips Petroleum running ads that suggest they're the leader in environmentalism and won't we please get on their green bandwagon.

@torgonius: I always thought the most striking similarity between environmentalism and religion is the "carbon offsets" gimmick that allows the wealthy to live as non-green as they want.

Carbon offsets are a copy of the "indulgences" sold by parts of the Christian church in the middle ages that allowed the wealthy to sin all they wanted and still get the express lane to heaven. Scams all around.

@AllToAll,ByMyMustard!_GitEmSteveDave: Why does nobody seem to remember that? what was it that was causing the cooling back then? that part I can't remember.

@B1663R: It used to be that the word "Organic" on food labeling was a free-for-all and there were no regulations. But just a few years ago the FDA created strict guidelines for those claming a food is organic.

While there have been a couple of cases of mix ups (e.g. a non-organic ingredient going into a product that is supposed to be organic) for the most part the regulations seem to be working.

But just a few years ago before the law began any food company could say "organic" on any food at all.

@djkatscan: I was thinking the same thing.. They should be cheaper.

@torgonius: You expect to get paid to serve your planet? You should consider it an honor!!

;)

@takes_so_little: When Honest Jim screams it loud and fast on the TV, shhhheeeesssshhh.

A rundown of the 2% of non-liars might have been nice.

(I was gonna say a list of the liars would be nice, but that would be a gigantor list, wouldn't it?)

I mean, I'd like to know that the stuff I might be buying is actually green, biodegradable, what-have-you.

@AllToAll,ByMyMustard!_GitEmSteveDave:

Global Cooling awareness... I think it's insane that so many people don't remember that we were all supposed to freeze to death!

I'll invest with ya, we'll make millions from 2021 thru 2043 by selling obnoxiously dull looking winter jackets & igloo snow-brick building kits.

@SunnyLea: Agreed. I'd like a list of people who are ACTUALLY green.

@I Love New Jersey: How about the fact that electric cars require...electricity. Electricity that is created largely by burning COAL- one of the worst pollutants (and a unsustainable practice besides).

@NutToNut,ByMyBastard!_GitEmSteveDave: You have entirely too much free time.

@You know what ole' Jack Burton always says: @Steven Irish: So will blue be the new green?

I MISS TRUTH IN ADVERTISING.

WHY is it okay to lie to people in order to get their money if you're a corporation, but if you're an individual it's fraud??

@I Love New Jersey: Canadian strip mining*

@WorldHarmony:

Actually...it's much more efficient to get electricity from 1 huge power plant vs. a million tiny ones. You know all that heat your car produces? It's only 10% efficient... in a coal plant, the heat is reused = 55% efficiency, after taking power line waste into account.

Michael Jordan shoes WILL make you jump/play basketball like him.

(actual results may vary)

I just wish people would stop trying to market hideous, poorly-built houses and condos as "green builds". No, sorry, upping the amount of impervious cover from 20% to 80% completely eclipses the fact that you're thinking about planting grass on the roof.