JANUARY 2011

Fiji Water Sued for Alleged Misleading Environmental Claims

A consumer recently filed a class action lawsuit against Fiji Water Company LLC, alleging that Fiji falsely and deceptively made environmentally beneficial claims about its bottled water.  Specifically, Fiji allegedly claims that its bottled water is “carbon negative,” and that it is the“first and only major bottled water company to make this commitment, under which [it] will continue to offset 120% of [its] emissions.”  Some of these claims are made on its package, as set forth below:

The plaintiff alleges that Fiji’s “carbon negative” claim is deceptive because consumers believe it to mean that Fiji’s current operations remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they release into it.  According to the complaint, Fiji uses an accounting method called “forward crediting,” whereby carbon credits are purchased to represent carbon reductions that may or may not take place up to several decades in the future.

TIP:  Companies should take care to properly qualify their carbon offset claims. The FTC’s proposed revisions to the green guides advise marketers to disclose if the carbon offset will not occur for two years or longer.