Episode 52
Labels, Shrinkflation and Greenwashing
Episode Summary: In this episode Leekei and Jenn talk about how companies use labelling on their products.
Jenn and Leekei talked about some of the tactics that companies use when labelling their products, what can be misleading and also how products change with time. As well as looking at labelling they discussed the changing of labels signifying something changing about the product and should we always trust what it says on the tin.
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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson and Leekei Tang.
From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.
Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.
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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Ima.
Speaker:I live in Scotland.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Jen and I'm from Canada.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Ola Vanji and I'm from Nigeria.
Speaker:Hello, I'm Leaky and I live in Paris.
Speaker:Hey, I'm Rod.
Speaker:I'm from Peru.
Speaker:Welcome to Carbon Sessions.
Speaker:A podcast with carbon conversations for every day with everyone
Speaker:from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:In our conversations, we share ideas, perspectives, questions, and things we
Speaker:can actually do to make a difference.
Speaker:So don't be shy.
Speaker:Join our carbon sessions because it's not too late.
Speaker:Hi, I am Jen.
Speaker:Hi.
Speaker:I am leak.
Speaker:You might hear rain on my ceiling.
Speaker:It is the first time it has rained in months and months and months.
Speaker:So we're so happy.
Speaker:. Wow.
Speaker:. And that's not our topic today, but I just was noticing, you might hear the sound
Speaker:of rain on the skylight over me here, . Yeah, I there's raining here in Paris as
Speaker:well, uh, we didn't have a lot of rain this year and, uh, it's boring with rain,
Speaker:but I'm not, I, I mean, I'm not on the.
Speaker:On the top floor on my apartment building.
Speaker:Ah, there you go.
Speaker:So we're gonna talk today about labels and.
Speaker:, what is happening with labels these days?
Speaker:What are you noticing about labels leaky?
Speaker:Um, I'm noticing that labels are more and more used, widely used, and
Speaker:they're almost everywhere in every products that we buy these days.
Speaker:And, um, I guess it's because it's needed by the consumers to, uh, to
Speaker:guide them and, uh, More, um, conscious purchasing and then, um, but then
Speaker:at the same time, I don't know it.
Speaker:It's, it's difficult to, you know, to see because there's so many labels, so,
Speaker:so it's difficult to see which of the best the labels you can really trust.
Speaker:Are you somebody who always goes for the same brands once you trust a brand or.
Speaker:or do you spend a lot of time comparing labels and reading labels?
Speaker:Um, well actually I'm a quite boring person.
Speaker:, when I, when I find you are not . No, but no.
Speaker:Well, actually I'm from, uh, from, for mortgages, I'm a very
Speaker:boring person because once I find something I like, I would.
Speaker:Try to find something, um, something different.
Speaker:I don't have very, um, like, you know, uh, fancy needs or, and I'm not the type
Speaker:of person that always try to, to get the, the latest thing on the market.
Speaker:So I look at the labels, but I'm not on the lookout for new stuff.
Speaker:So, yeah, once I know the label, um, I look at the labels when I buy
Speaker:something, I really look at the labels very carefully, but then I don't.
Speaker:Well, that's not related to the environment, but lately, uh, that's
Speaker:something I've read in the news is that some brands, because you know, the cost of
Speaker:of production, everything has increased.
Speaker:, that, uh, you know, for the same type of product in the same
Speaker:package, , the amount of product in the package is, has been reduced.
Speaker:And, uh, you don't know it if you don't look at the label.
Speaker:There, there's a word for that.
Speaker:Have you heard of the word shrink?
Speaker:Ifl.
Speaker:. Oh really?
Speaker:. Shrink.
Speaker:Ifl . Shrink fla.
Speaker:So, is that what I'm trying to describe?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, so you have a box of cereal, for example, that
Speaker:maybe was, you know, 300 grams.
Speaker:And the box of cereal, it looks exactly the same, except now it's.
Speaker:270 grams.
Speaker:Oh, so it's like the brand doesn't tell you that they have re reduced the amount?
Speaker:No, no.
Speaker:So it's the same exact thing.
Speaker:Only it's a smaller, uh, and the box might actually be exactly the same size.
Speaker:It might just be that there's less in it, or it might be slightly smaller.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:So, Hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so what can we do about it?
Speaker:Well, uh, I, I don't know if there's anything we can do about that, but
Speaker:it might be paying more attention to the label, which isn't, isn't
Speaker:environmental and less, we're thinking about shipping maybe, and.
Speaker:, you know that less is being shipped at the same environmental cost.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Because of the packaging.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that, that might be something to think about.
Speaker:If we're talking about looking at labels environmentally, then
Speaker:I'm thinking of ingredients.
Speaker:Well, what type of ingredients would you mean?
Speaker:Well, depending on what it is that you're buying.
Speaker:So if you're.
Speaker:Shampoo or you're buying cleaning products, you know, are you buying
Speaker:them with all the, uh, phalates and all those things in them?
Speaker:Um, is the plastic b p a free is, you know, what, what is in the thing that,
Speaker:that it is that you're purchasing?
Speaker:And if it's got a green label on it, is it true?
Speaker:. . And so we're talking about, uh, label as in certifications or label just.
Speaker:Labels on products.
Speaker:Labels on products.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think, well, one thing that we need to do more is, um, so we know that,
Speaker:um, brands change the content of the product without really telling you.
Speaker:And the only way you can tell, you know, you'll be aware of
Speaker:that, is by reading label.
Speaker:So what I'm learning from this, that when you buy something,
Speaker:really read the labels.
Speaker:Like take the time to do it really to.
Speaker:, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You can even take a picture.
Speaker:I mean, you know, if, if it looks different than it's always looked.
Speaker:If you're a brand, if you've got brand loyalty like you do, you know, pay
Speaker:attention how, how much is in this thing?
Speaker:How big is this thing?
Speaker:And just pay attention because it might change.
Speaker:and, and there isn't a lot you can do about it except that you might notice that
Speaker:your value for what you're paying mm-hmm.
Speaker:because maybe the price doesn't change.
Speaker:, the price doesn't change, nothing else changes except the volume
Speaker:of whatever it is you're buying.
Speaker:. And that's just an interesting practice that I've noticed that's
Speaker:out there, only because I've been paying attention to labels.
Speaker:Um, I don't know.
Speaker:I haven't bought a bag of chips in a while, but you know the air
Speaker:that's inside the bag of chips,
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We call it the s we call it the Noosphere
Speaker:it gets bigger.
Speaker:There's hardly anything in those bags.
Speaker:It's a great big bag.
Speaker:. Yeah.
Speaker:It's all air , . Yeah.
Speaker:I really need to pay more attention to this kind of thing from now on.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:. That's, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker:And then also with the labels, there's the greenwashing, right?
Speaker:So is it really green?
Speaker:Is it really healthy?
Speaker:Like they use words like health, uh, green and viro, blah, whatever the blah is.
Speaker:Like there's all these words that can get plastered on the front of a product.
Speaker:, you know, is it really?
Speaker:So then you need to turn it over and really read what's Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Sometimes some brands use the color codes or some words, buzzwords, just
Speaker:to mislead the customers and yeah, we need to read the label, but, oh,
Speaker:there's something that happened.
Speaker:Um, there was a case, but I can't remember the brand, the, the, the
Speaker:supermarket chain that did that.
Speaker:But they invent the own certification and, and use.
Speaker:On, on like food products and, um, it's, it's completely made up.
Speaker:And so it's, um, it's just to mislead customers into thinking that this
Speaker:product is better than the others,
Speaker:and, um, and sell it the higher price.
Speaker:But I can't remember, um, the brand that, that, those supermarket chain
Speaker:that did that, but it was a big case.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:That's terrible.
Speaker:. Yeah.
Speaker:That's sneaky.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Sneaky.
Speaker:Sneaky.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I think it's good for us to really pay attention and even with brands that
Speaker:we love, love, and use all the time, is to take a look and see, see what's
Speaker:new lately and see what they're up to because they might be absolutely the same
Speaker:all the time and there might be nothing going on and that's fantastic, but.
Speaker:Um, but just, I, I, I think it's customer awareness, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, so I have to be less boring.
Speaker:ah.
Speaker:Anyway, it's, it's just a, it's just paying attention.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks, leaky.
Speaker:Hi.
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