Bogus Bamboo Marketing by Kohl’s and Walmart

 

FTC takes action against Bogus Bamboo Marketing by Kohl’s and Walmart

As of April 8th, 2022 the FTC had released reports that outlined the complaints made against Kohls and Walmart for actively promoting products claiming that they are made from bamboo. The specific product advertised was a type of textile woven fabric that was marketed as "handcrafted" using an "eco-friendly process". In reality, after looking at the materials and ingredients, these textiles were created using a variety of toxic chemicals and processes that are hazardous and highly pollutant.

On April 8th after a detailed undercover investigation, the FTC asked the court to force these companies to do a variety of actions to satisfy these complaints.

 #1 They must stop selling these products immediately in an effort to reduce green claims on products and protect buyers from misleading advertising. 

#2 These companies are also being forced to pay penalties upwards of 3 million dollars each for lack of regulation on the products they are selling. 

#3 Impose regulations on their products to stop making false green marketing claims.

This is making headline news because if the order gets passed it will go down in history as the largest penalty appointed to a company for false green marketing. This isn't the first time these companies have been ordered to shut down product lines due to misconduct. In the past, the FTC had already had an issue with these companies over unfair or deceptive marketing tactics.

After reading the complaints from the FTC I understand that these were eCommerce-related incidents where these corporations might be working with 3rd party store owners to offer a wider variety of products on their site. When partnered with 3rd parties like this it can be hard for the company to ensure quality and transparency as they might not even be the ones creating the listing and selling to the customers. But this is no excuse and this is why they need to have systems in place to maintain a level of quality across all their sales channels.

I thought this article was interesting and good to see that the FTC is finally making moves against unfair or deceptive marketing tactics. They move extremely slow, but at least they are doing something to protect consumers from unethical marketing behaviors. Since this case was just released it will take time to see the outcomes of the civil penalty and whether these companies will comply to the complaint.