Greenwash Claims Flushed Away, The BBC vs Serious Tissues

With increasing awareness of companies making misleading environmental claims, there are more and more instances of the media calling out greenwashing. The latest example of this positive trend is the BBC’s More Or Less programme on Radio 4, which investigated a recent marketing claim by Serious Tissues.

The company, which produces a range of tissue products, ran a radio ad that stated: “15% of global deforestation is from toilet rolls alone. But switch to Serious Tissues and they don’t cut down trees. In fact, Serious Tissues plant a tree for every roll sold.”

Following the ad campaign, a number of Radio 4 listeners wrote to More or Less, taking issue with the 15% figure and asking the team to investigate and find out whether that figure was true. On January 29, journalist Charlotte McDonald presented the results of their findings.

“First, we contacted the company whose ad it was, Serious Tissues, and they directed us to a 2019 report by the American environmental organisation, the Natural Resources Defence Council or NRDC,” said Charlotte on the programme. “The problem with the report was we couldn’t see a 15% figure that related to toilet paper.”
more at: https://www.twosides.info/UK/greenwash-claims-flushed-away-the-bbc-vs-serious-tissues/