Acqua San Benedetto: the slogans “ecogreen” and “CO2 zero impact” are not greenwashing, according to the IAP

Remember the case of San Benedetto spotaccused by The Food Fact of greenwashing? The advertising of mineral water, with its claims “Ecogreen” and “CO2 zero impact”, had been reported to the Institute of Advertising Self-Regulation (IAP) and censorship was requested.

The request mainly denounced the use of these terms, accusing the company of making generic and unverifiable statements that could confuse consumers, leading them to believe that San Benedetto water has no environmental impact, which obviously does not correspond to the truth.

However, despite the scientific advice supporting the censorship request, the IAP did not follow up on the report, effectively rejecting the request and declaring the advertising message “truthful and correct”.

Despite the opinion of the IAP, The Food Fact continues to contest the use of the terms “Ecogreen” and “CO2 zero impact”, defining them as extremely generic and misleading. The word “Ecogreen” combines the concepts of ‘Ecological’ and ‘Green’, evoking positive associations linked to sustainability, but these are poorly defined and unmeasurable terms that should not find space in commercial communication.

As regards the term “Ecogreen”, however, this appears to reinforce a concept devoid of substance, incapable of providing real information value. According to the ISO 14021/2016 standard, which regulates environmental self-declarations in Europe, such expressions must be based on concrete and verifiable information to avoid the risk of greenwashing.

Therefore, the use of expressions such as “Ecogreen” and “CO2 zero impact” not only confuses consumers, according to The Food Factbut it also violates the fundamental principles of responsible commercial communications.

The newspaper’s experts conclude:

We invite the Institute’s Supervisory Committee to review the caseto treat it in more depth, adopting more correct and appropriate judgment criteria to evaluate this type of advertising.

In the meantime, what we can do as consumers is keep a critical eye on slogans and advertisements that promise sustainability, zero impact, ecological solutions, etc.