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Controversial advertising for "environmentally neutral product" at dm
Photo: Uli Deck / dpa
In the future, the drugstore chain dm will no longer advertise products with the designation "climate-neutral". The company announced on Monday that it would not appeal against a corresponding ruling by the Karlsruhe Regional Court. However, the chain will continue to fight for the right to use the term "environmentally neutral".
The organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) had sued dm and several other companies. In July, the Karlsruhe Regional Court ruled in favor of the environmentalists: dm could not keep the promise of climate-neutral products such as liquid soap or sunscreen. The court did not consider the compensation of CO₂ emissions during production through projects for forest protection, for example, to be sufficient.
dm has now announced that the company had already decided in October 2022 to no longer use the "climate-neutral" label in the future. Legal questions about the use of the label are currently being clarified in other proceedings, so "from our point of view, there is no reason to continue to involve the judiciary in our proceedings".
Numerous lawsuits filed by the German Environmental Aid
The Karlsruhe court had also prohibited the use of the term "environmentally neutral" because the products in question did not have a balanced environmental balance. dm intends to continue to defend itself against this decision. "We strongly believe that our science-based approach is holistic and groundbreaking," the company said.
The judges complained that dm also did not provide consumers with enough information to understand the term. Admittedly, dm had provided this information on a website. However, the court was of the opinion that the packaging alone had to clearly refer to this information.
Since May last year, the DUH had filed a complaint against a total of 21 companies that advertised with similar slogans.
beb/AFP