Environmental (Commonwealth Union) In what may be a first-of-its-kind decision which brings to light the gap between what is promised in agricultural marketing and what is the environmental truth, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned Red Tractor’s TV ad for putting out info which is not true about the environmental performance of certified farms. The report, which came out of one of the ASA’s most in-depth investigations ever, also reports that the issue of environmental overclaim was large-scale and that at the same time many of the certified farms were breaking basic environmental laws. This case, which is a first in terms of the scale of investigation done by the ASA, also marks a turn in the food industry as far as responsibility goes; it puts into question the basis of the trust which exists between consumers, supermarkets and agricultural certification bodies.
In which we see that of the 70% of UK supermarket food that has certification, what is mainly covered is animal welfare and traceability, which leaves out environmental issues.
Consumers tend to think that the comprehensive standards mark means environmental protection also, which the certifier reports to only cover food safety and animal welfare issues. This issue is made worse when large supermarkets like Tesco and Morrisons put out that Red Tractor certification, which they present as a guarantee of environmental protection to customers.
As retailers and consumers push for environmental responsibility, what was put in place for food safety is now being stretched to include sustainability claims that the companies can’t back up. We see this as a form of “greenwashing”, which in turn breaks down consumer trust and also puts real environmental progress at a standstill.
There is an opportunity to establish robust environmental standards that align with consumer expectations, rather than relying on marketing that overpromises and underdelivers.
