Sometimes you get a ruling on green marketing (or rather, on greenwashing) that beggars belief. It makes everyone gasp in astonishment not just because it has over-claimed from an environmental point of view, but because the basic rules of making sure your product marketing claims are clear and proportionate seem to have gone out of the window.

Such was the case with a well-known South-East Asian car company that claimed one of its models could be charged in under 20 minutes with a particular strength of charger.

Why did the companies marketers and executives feel impelled to make such product claims that were clearly (a) likely to come under the green claims spotlight that’s so high-in-mind with the regulators today and (b) subject to such a level of variations (especially temperature) as to be unsustainable as a general claim?

What’s our conclusion?

Maintain the usual disciplines over product claims. Wrap them round with clear information that claims can vary in different circumstances. In fact, keep your people’s heads firmly screwed on to their normal professional standards and don’t let them get into such a frenzy to capture e-customer eyeballs that they let those normal standards fly out of the window. If you think they are losing their focus, get an independent advisor in to appraise the situation and tell your board the truth outside of the corporate bubble.