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Counting your carbons

Posted in General, Marketing, Nikki Preston, Latest reporters' blogs October 12th, 2007 by Nikki Preston

Walkers have tried it and now Tesco is urging other brands to follow suit and add yet another figure to what is becoming a very crowded food labelling regime. Consumers are already counting their calories, but do they want to count their carbons too?

But even if Tesco gets its way, and being the UK’s largest supermarket it is quite likely that suppliers are prepared to bow to its every need, will the general UK consumer actually know what it means when they see a figure such as ‘75g Co2’?

Personally I know that the number refers to the product’s carbon footprint, but would have no idea whether that was a good or bad thing.

Given the choice of looking after myself by looking at the nutritional information or looking after the environment I think I would choose the healthy option every time, particularly because I know what 11.4 grams of fat means and what effect it would have on me. With calorie, fat and salt figures already jumping out at you – an additional figure seems simply confusing.

So while I agree that companies should be accountable for the impact they have on the environment and measure their carbon footprint, I just don’t think it is necessary at this stage for them to pass that information on to the consumer in such a confrontational way.

The average Brit is still coming terms with what can and cannot be recycled so before bombarding them with even more information perhaps Tesco and the Carbon Trust should be working together to spell out to consumers what it all actually means.

At this early stage I think the addition of yet another figure to the front of a pack will only serve to make consumers feel guilty - not only about how bad the food is for them - but also how bad it is for the environment.

It certainly won’t sway consumers to place the more ‘greener’ item in their shopping trolley.