Smithfield Foods Hit With FTC Complaint For False And Misleading Advertising About "Sustainability"
The nation’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, Inc., had a complaint filed against it Thursday morning that alleges instances of false and misleading advertising related to the company’s sustainability efforts. Filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the complaint details instances in which Smithfield has greenwashed, or falsely conveyed its company as environmentally friendly in the hopes of attracting earth-conscious customers, on its website, YouTube channel, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages.
“While Smithfield tells consumers that its production facilities are ‘the opposite’ of ‘factory farms,’ the company in reality relies on the factory farm model from start to finish,” the complaint says. “Put simply, Smithfield’s actual practices and products are unavoidably at odds with how a reasonable consumer would understand Smithfield’s environmentally related advertisements and marketing.”
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The 47-page complaint goes on to detail Smithfield’s history of violating environmental laws and adoption of factory farm practices that underscore the meat processor’s practices as “quintessentially unsustainable,” despite marketing efforts that purport a company culture of environmental stewardship and a “guarantee [of the] highest environmental standards,” in the production process. Petitioners ask that the FTC require Smithfield to remove the alleged misleading marketing claims, enjoin it from making similar claims in the future, distribute corrective statements in all media where the alleged misleading marketing claims were distributed and impose “all other penalties as are just and proper.”
Smithfield, Inc. is owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group. The complaint was filed by Washington, D.C.-based Food & Water Watch on behalf of nine advocacy groups focused on protecting the environment, including Dakota Rural Action.
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https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2021/02/04/smithfield-foods-accused-false-environmental-marketing-advertising-meat-processor-ftc/4376126001/
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