Innocent Smoothies' green claims go pear-shaped

Claims that drinks company Innocent misled consumers about how its products were transported have served as timely reminder of the scrutiny ethical brands now face over their marketing claims.

An investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed that the high-profile smoothie-maker had published inaccurate information about how the ingredients for its drinks were transported.

The company claimed that the fruit for its smoothies only travels by rail or boat and tells customers that its drinks are produced in the UK. However, The Daily Telegraph claims its investigation revealed that the drinks are blended on the continent before being carried "hundreds of miles" on tanker lorries.

Innocent admitted that there was some material on its web site "that had not been updated and incorrectly states that we only use rail and sea to transport our fruit".

The company added that blending drinks in Holland and transporting them in bulk across to the UK actually helps to reduce its carbon footprint. "A lot of our fruit is coming from Europe, and our tropical fruit is coming by boat from Central America, India etc into the ports in Rotterdam," an Innocent spokeswoman said. "Rather than transport each fruit individually into the UK, it is actually more efficient to blend the fruit each day and transport it all together."

Innocent sees sustainability as an ongoing challenge as the organisation continues to grow, the spokeswomen added. "Sustainability is always a process of constant improvement to ensure that we are running the business in the best way possible, that we make the most responsible choices as we grow and that we keep pushing for the best result," she said.

However, Innocent is not alone when it comes to seeing its ethical claims scrutinised. According to a recent report from ethical PR and marketing consultancy Futerra Sustainability Communications, regulators around the world are beginning to tighten up rules and regulations around ethical claims made in advertising.

The Greenwash Guide claims that only 10 per cent of consumers trust "green information" from businesses and government and the UK Advertising Standards Agency is upholding an increasing number of complaints against green messaging from advertisers. "Most greenwash is due to ignorance and/or sloppiness rather than malicious intent and businesses and advertising agencies can take simple steps to prevent greenwashing getting through," the report claimed.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Solitaire Townsend, chief executive and co-founder of Futerra said that the Innocent case was a relatively innocuous case of greenwash but said she was surprised that it had not happened to the drinks-maker before. "I don't think what Innocent has done and said is that bad at all," she said. "Every single company that puts its head above the parapet can expect and deserve to be harshly questioned."

Innocent isn't alone in facing such scrutiny as organisations such as The Body Shop, Ecover and even ice cream-maker Ben & Jerry's have had their business practices examined and investigated, Townsend added.

"The public feel very strongly about their green purchases, they don't make many of them, but when they do they get a completely different shopping experience," she said. "This isn't like every other capitalist decision that we take...this is consumer/citizen decision-making and you feel the same way about a company misleading you on their green claims as you do about your feelings about politics."