According to the new rules, "both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement," the agency said.

They also have to disclose a monetary connection with a company in other situations.

"Celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media," the agency said.

This is very big news for many bloggers, but it gets back to the concept I talk about and that is so common in sustainability---authenticity. Isn’t time we are all authentic with our messages?

I’ve written about products or services before that I found I liked and never felt like someone should pay me to talk about them. I only talk about products and services that I feel warrant it. In the same respect, I mention products and services that might need some work. To me it is all about total transparency and it is how we can all learn from each other.

The FTC may be cracking down on misleading endorsements and testimonials, yet for many of us, it will be writing as usual…writing about things that really matter.

It’s really time for all us to embrace total transparency. It’s working in the sustainability world and it can work here too.

Colette Chandler

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

Green Biz Reports:

In this year's survey, 80 percent chose the correct definition for "clean energy." But that's a drop from 86 percent getting it right in 2007. The same thing happened with the definition for "demand response." Sixty-nine percent got it right in 2009, but 73 percent got it right in 2007.

When it came to other terms like "peak pricing," "budget billing," "flat pricing," "time of use pricing" and "fuel supply pricing," consumers were either very knowledgeable about what the terms meant or were practically clueless about them.

The report suggests that, due to consumer misunderstanding of some terms, to stop using industry terms like "demand response" and "peak pricing" when communicating with consumers. Even though those concepts are important when it comes to the smart grid, consumers did not understand them and even made negative associations with them.

The report also finds that consumers could use some education when it comes to understanding the benefits of the smart grid. When asked to identify who or what they think will benefit the most from the smart grid, 31 percent of those surveyed said the environment would. And when asked to identify who would benefit the least, consumers said government, residential consumers and utilities would reap the fewest rewards from smart grid investments.

What does all of this mean?

It means make sure you talk to the lowest common denominator—speak to the people who least understand to ensure everyone gets it, especially if trying to appeal to the masses.

Colette Chandler

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

-Determine environmental track record

Many companies have had environmental issues or human rights violations that they may not want the public to know about. Check for info on watchdog groups and in the media and compare it to what they disclose – Green America. In sustainability transparency is everything.

-Ask for proof to back up claims (monitoring data, reviews, audits)

Companies may talk about commitment to transparency and prove info to stakeholders, but you need to check this on your own. Check their reports and where they refer to their monitoring data, reviews, audits.

-How do they handle their critics?

Some companies do go to great lengths to silence their critics. Make sure you know where your company and clients stand.

-Consistency in environmental launches and messages

Consistency needs to be tested both in US and Internationally if they operate in other countries. Make sure they do not opt for lower standards. Also, make sure that empty promises are not made under public pressure or that a new environmental launch isn’t starved of funds (are they talking about taking action to tackle climate change, yet withdrawing investments from renewable energy supplies?) – it’s a dead giveway how they feel about it overall.

Colette Chandler

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

I always customize my speeches to my audience leaving them with ideas they can implement right away. I recently decided to include information about ways to know if something is truly green or if it is greenwashing. Considering the U.S. FTC already have charged three companies 4 months ago with false green claims, I figured knowing how to spot greenwashing would be important.

I have included the list below that I have put together and pulled from a couple of sources on the Internet:

-Follow the money and paper trail

Companies donate to political parties, think tanks, etc. Few disclose this in annual report – who donating to. Ask about all donations.

Ask about submissions made by company and lobbying issues you are interested in. Make sure on right side. Most companies and association will make submissions to government and other inquiries on issues of importance. These are often posted to website. Also send letter to politicians and government agencies—accessed by Freedom of Information Act.

-Find out associations to which they belong

Some companies may talk about their environmental policy and performance, but hide their anti-environmentalism behind banner of industry association to which they belong. See which associations they belong to and check and see their policies.

We;ll continue this discussion in my next blog post.

Colette Chandler

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

Now, why did I tell you the story about my travels and the different airline experiences?

Recession or not, customers expect good customer service. Shuffling customers around from gate to gate and be in essence punished for arriving early does not make a happy customer.

Compare this service to Midwest who went out of their way to help me get to Des Moines on the way over. It was my fault that I booked 9:00 p.m. instead of 9 a.m. This was the first time I had ever done this! There was a flight leaving at the same time and arriving in Des Moines around the same time. They apologized for having to charge me $50 to change it and were over the top accommodating. Then, once on the plane they offered everyone cookies—a very nice touch, even though I do not eat them.

When times are tough, especially for industries who are feeling it more such as the airlines, you need to recognize that the one thing that can separate you from the pack is your customer service. Now I may be singling out two airlines, but it could have been any one of them. I just happened to have this experience on Delta.

When you are in the sustainability arena, good customer service completes the people, plant and profit equation.

Remember, it is about treating people right. People expect more from companies today when they have less dollars and even more from sustainable companies who they feel should know better.

Colette Chandler

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

I arrived at the airport two hours early. I was keynoting at a luncheon and unsure how much time I needed to allow. I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry. I figured arriving early would have its perks. Boy was I wrong.

My interesting journey started when a Delta agent could not find my file in the kiosk. Instead of finding it in his computer, he asked me to enter my information three more times-he was convinced that I was in there. After the third attempt, I was allowed to come to the counter and given a ticket.

Because I was too early for the flight, I was told that I would have to get a seat assignment at the gate. When I inquired about this I was told it is always done this way. Funny…I never had this experience before.

The gate that I was directed to was C3. I walked up and down the terminal looking for C3. It was nowhere to be found. Apparently, it was once there but now under construction. Perplexed I inquired at a counter at a gate that was attended—these were few and far between. They indicated it had to be at gate 1 and 2. I proceeded to that ticket counter, waited in a long line to be told by the agent that I actually need to be at gate 4, not gate 2.

As I got to the gate, I looked up and nowhere on the monitor or any monitor did it mention my airline. Since no one was at the gate to help me, I sat down to wait. By this time it was 3:00 and my flight left at 4:10 p.m. I still did not have a seat assignment.

When someone arrived to help me, he assigned me a seat, never asking me what I would prefer and handed me a ticket. When I inquired about my seat on the second leg of my journey home he indicated I had to get that in Cincinnati and that is how it is always done.

Interestingly enough, I had never encountered this before and I have been flying for 25 years. I’m going to continue this blog discussion in my next post and explain why I am telling you this story.

Colette Chandler

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

A company wanted to produce a brochure stating how green their products were. They wanted my company to come in and do a quick little assessment and tell them they were green enough to produce this brochure. The challenge was that they had never had any type of sustainability platform, no guiding principles, no audit on energy usage, etc., etc. Knowing this, I knew in order to be able to accomplish what they wanted, my assessment had to be even more in-depth than I normally did so that I would prevent the company and really my company (oh yes, consulting firms and agencies can be greenwashed as well) as well from being greenwashed.

Other ideas to know if your product is the problem or it is your perception is to:

A. Look at your competition and see what is selling and what isn’t. Just make sure they are targeting the same audience. It should give you a sense of what customers are buying overall.

B. Survey your customers before rolling out a new product. Before you roll out a new product, unless your customers demand it, test it on them first. Ask for a sample customer group, a focus group of sorts, and tell them you will send them one of your products in exchange for providing feedback. This will save you a lot of time and energy from producing something that won’t sell.

If you missed my last post, click here.

Here is the question I asked at the end of my post. I am sure you are wanting to know the answers I didn’t have time to share, right?

Why pursue sustainability, or Eco-Smart Manufacturing, during a downturn? Is this a nice to have but not a need to have?

a. Trust is at an all-time low. Transparency is the only answer.

b. Consumers are still spending the dollars with greener products more – Deloitte did a retail strategy as well as others.

c. Green consumers will spend 20% more. Targeting them allows you to tap into the $209 billion global marketplace and $545 billion international marketplace of goods and services.

There were about 90 manufacturers in attendance. I thought it was a respectable number considering it was a recession and green may have not been at the top of their business agenda. Nevertheless, they were attendance and asking some good questions of the panel.

In indicated in my last blog post that a women said she didn’t recycle because she didn’t believe it would help and what was the point.

I’ve seen the same thing happen in companies where they institute a recycling program, people start recycling then one person ends up dumping the recycled products into a dumpster. This kills the credibility of the program and instills distrust immediately—something hard to get back.

When a city rolls out a program, communicate on a basic level would make sense, here is what I mean:

1. Explain the benefit of recycling and the downside of not recycling – I explained to this lady that people do not understand that when a landfill is full, we will need to transport trash, do you think transporting trash would diminish the air quality? We could end up in a similar situation as China because our air quality is so bad.

2. Show what’s in it for them – Why should they do it? Everyone has a different motive. Conventionals who are driven by more municipal behavior will actively engage in recycling, but they are only a little under 30% of the population. What about everyone else? For a drifter to relate, you have to show them how it affects them personally. Each groups relates very differently to these types of initiatives and are motivated in different manners.

What do you think?

I am perplexed when I see this. If you read my last post you’ll notice I really like to get a pulse of a city by seeing and hearing what is happening from the people and events. I’ve seen on more than one occasion a mayor who is a strong shade of green, greening buildings for the state, yet the rest of the city is not completely buying in.

So, how does this happen and how do you prevent it from happening?

1. How green/sustainable is this city?

2. Who is driving the efforts?

3. How are they managing during this recession?

4. Which industries have felt it more and which have felt it less?

Why is this important to me?

Say your sales person calls upon a prospect (or you do) to receive your service and your sales person, or you, find out they do not have money or so they say. If your sales person is doing the calling and there is an opportunity for the prospect to talk with the person delivering the service, set up this call right away. Tell them you’d like them to talk with the person delivering the service to see if there is a creative way you could work together. Tell them in advance to put on their creative hat. If they are already interested in the service and you know this for a fact, then you have a great opportunity to work with them.