Everyone is bombarded with advertising messages every day. Whether that’s through billboards, commercials on TV, via social media or sometimes by more subtle product placement in TV or film. Although there are regulations about what an advert is allowed to claim (in some countries), an awful lot of what we see is purposefully misleading or vague. I think it’s beyond time to rethink product labels and adverts…
Advertising – “the business of trying to persuade people to buy products or services.”
A company isn’t going to voluntarily let you know that some of it’s components or ingredients are potentially harmful to you or the environment. That’s understandable. But when it comes to product labels shouldn’t they be more accurate? Ingredients have to be listed, but stating that a product “contains palm oil” is very different to including a label such as – “contains Palm Oil. Palm oil production is said to have been responsible for about 8% of the world’s deforestation between 1990 and 2008. Deforestation contributes to climate change and species like orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers can be affected due to habitat loss.”
Of course most labels don’t even make it clear that palm oil is an ingredient. Read more about what ingredients are palm oil or a palm oil derivative.
Why aren’t companies held responsible for the damage they do to the environment or to wildlife?
Isn’t it time that customers are told the truth? Shouldn’t everyone be made aware that their shopping choices contribute to some seriously unethical practices and to the ongoing destruction of our planet?
Time to Rethink Product Labels – a few ideas
Labelled as Organic or Labelled as Harmful to Wildlife?
Instead of a label stating that a food product is organic shouldn’t we instead be letting people know that the food they want to buy has been grown using herbicides and pesticides that destroy the soil, the water quality and biodiversity? Companies that want to market their product as organic have to prove their credentials. It’s a costly business. I believe companies should also have to tell people that the product they’re about to buy could be harmful to them, the planet or wildlife!
Why You Should Eat Organic Food
Olives and the Death of Birds
Some of us try to be very careful about what we buy but there’s always something we don’t know about. For example, it was only very recently that some people were made aware that olive harvesting is causing the death of thousands of birds. Not everyone will find out about this, so they carry on buying olives or olive oil completely oblivious to the fact that they are inadvertently supporting a process they may find abhorrent.
Balloons and Wildlife
If people really thought about it, they already know that releasing a balloon is technically littering. But we don’t think about it. We release the balloons and they float away – out of sight out of mind. Those balloons have to come down somewhere and they can cause death and destruction when they do.
I personally think that the sale of balloons should be banned or at the very least balloon releases should be made illegal. But imagine if each packet of balloons contained a picture of a seabird that has died because it became entangled in the string of the balloon. It would make some people think twice about buying them or releasing them.
Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Balloons
Honest Product Labels / Food Packaging
This is not a new concept. Food products have to contain clear labelling to indicate if any allergens are included. Not including this information can cause serious harm and even death. Cigarette packets contain horrific pictures on the packaging. People still buy cigarettes but at least they know the consequences because they’re spelled out on the packet. I think all products should contain packaging with pictures like this rather than a small label such as a list of ingredients.
Why can’t this be done for every product that we buy? The only difference here is that allergens and cigarettes mainly affect an individual rather than the planet as a whole.
Government Intervention
I believe that by forcing companies to come clean will necessarily lead to more ethical practices being used. I think we’ve come to a point that we can’t allow companies to leave their customers in the dark. Let consumers make choices based on all the facts. I’m aware that a lot of people don’t want to think about some of these things, but we all have to take responsibility to some degree.
Packaging should:
- Explain why unsustainable palm oil is bad.
- Tell people the truth about where their eggs have come from and what happens to the male chicks.
- Tell people the truth about dairy farming.
- Let people know that the slug pellets they want to buy can kill hedgehogs.
- Tell people that the olives they buy come from somewhere that vacuums up birds killing them.
- Advise people of the horrors of netting and how it kills birds, hedgehogs, deer, foxes and even beloved pets.
- Tell people what the consequence is of buying peat-based compost.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Anita Rani have recently done a great job pointing out just how bad plastic is (War on Plastic). They’ve woken a lot of people up to just how unnecessary most plastic is. And also what actually happens to it when we throw it away or recycle it. As this followed David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series, where he showed the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean, it has mobilised lots of people to make the effort to buy plastic free or as little plastic as possible. Supermarkets are beginning to realise that they might lose a lot of custom if they don’t change. That’s a good thing but there are so many products that cause harm to the environment.
Shouldn’t the planet come before profit? Shouldn’t conscience come before convenience? Let people make a choice by telling them the truth. It is time to rethink product labels!
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