A little over one year ago the Environmental Working Group published their “No More Toxic Tub” report which listed well-known brands and their well-known products which (conversely not well-known) contained harmful substances which were not required to be listed on the labels. By far the biggest fallout was for Johnson & Johnson, whose iconic baby shampoo was among those listed as containing formaldehyde in questionable levels as well as additives that posed problems. The green mom blogosphere went wild and the posts about it were swift and intense. And over the last year that momentum has only been building, leading up to this class action lawsuit just recently approved to sue the company for selling products known to contain carcinogens.
So you can imagine my surprise (and yet, not entirely surprise since this is the way the markets work) when I’m reading my Kiwi magazine the other day and see a 4-page insert from Johnson & Johnson which touts its new “Natural” line. If you click through to the website, the company states that their:
long-standing commitment to pure, mild and gentle baby skin care has driven us to set a new standard: the BEST FOR BABY NATURALS™ Standard.
Excuse me while I, um, cough. Yeah, not so much. The wording on the advertising insert seems to say it all: “The label says “natural.” But how do you really know everything is good for your baby? Look for us in the baby products aisle (in the environmentally responsible recyclable green bottles)” Wow. No subtlety there. They go from being the problem to the alleged solution in the span of one year. And the company doesn’t stop there. They are reaching for a certain demographic whom they have fallen out of favor with and that person is conscious of the choices they make, so the advertisement lists that it “uses recycled paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. It was printed with soy-based, non-toxic inks by a company that runs on wind power.”
Right there is the proof that knowledge really is power and that the choices you are making everyday are having a tremendous impact. Whatever shortcuts a company needs to take in order to get us a cheap product will no longer work en masse. J&J is no more doing this because they care about being environmentally responsible, but they don’t need to be doing it for that reason so long as they do it. They’re market driven, bottom line, and it’s their job to produce money for their shareholders. That’s not a terrible thing if the market demands products which are safe and ecologically friendly, then everyone wins. Except that obviously requires an informed consumer. And that’s where we come in. Where your money goes, the market will follow. So feel good about the ways you’re questioning your purchases, because it’s having an effect.
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