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APRIL 11, 2010
“Localwashing”: Is it just funny, or succeeding in
confusing people?
 With consumers psyched up for anything “local,’ it didn’t
take giant corporations long to hijack the word for use in some really
deceptive advertising that is so ridiculous it's funny. For example, CITGO, owned by the Venezuelan
government and supplier of petroleum products from faraway countries and
refineries has a billboard campaign that reads, “Local. Loyal. As it should
be.” What?! Laughable, right? Well, some attempts at localwashing aren’t
as easily laughed off. Wal-Mart has
started hanging large signs over their produce departments that read
“Local”. While one, two or three items
in any given store may be from local farms, the sign clearly suggests that
the entire department is stocked with local produce—and some consumers are
falling for it, as I learned when I read a blog poster declare that she could
shop at Wal-Mart with a clear conscious now because their produce department
was overflowing with local food. Oh
no. When a conscientious shopper thinks she can skip the farmers market
because Wal-Mart is supplying the same local bounty, the “eat local” movement
is in serious trouble.
The moral of this story is, don’t take advertisement
claims at face value. Ask questions. And don’t skip the farmers market—ever—if you don’t have to.
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