Medical Device Link.

BRAND MATTERS

Robert C. Sprung

The words organic and natural, originally associated largely with food and supplements, have made the move to a wide array of healthcare products. In this column, we look at how marketers are using packaging to help establish their natural credentials in this fast-moving—and loosely regulated—space.

Mention organic and natural, and many of us think of granola at the health-food cooperative. Although a myriad of such products are now sold en masse at stores like Wal-Mart, “Much of today’s packaging hearkens back to that era, with a naive, folksy, almost apothecary feel,” says industry consultant Kris Braddock. Typical examples include Burt’s Bees, Tom’s of Maine (now owned by Colgate), and Newman’s Own. Packages of everything from baby lotion to hair colorant often include images of the brand’s founder (invariably referred to on a first-name basis), who is often pictured on a background of greens, browns, and other earth tones to telegraph the natural message.

The golden example for this school of labeling may be the label for Dr. Bronner’s soap. (If you haven’t seen this, it’s a worth a trip to a Whole Foods market to examine it in detail.) The entire quart bottle is crammed with microscopic type containing some 2500 words and offering such aphorisms as “absolute cleanliness is godliness.” The label claims the product can be used to wash your car, your teeth, your pets, and your laundry.

The Dr. Bronner’s label is emblematic of two labeling issues regarding “organic” and “natural” product labeling. The first issue relates to the word organic. Dr. Bronner’s team of lawyers and the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) are incensed at what they see as rampant and misleading use of organic outside the food setting where its use is subject to reasonably strict definitions under the USDA. They sued last year to use the official USDA-certified organic seals on nonfood products.

A number of Dr. Bronner’s products now include such certifications as the USDA organic seal. By mid-2007, they will also include a Fair Trade label—a move being followed by several other nonfood manufacturers. According to statements from Dr. Bronner’s, “The USDA has directed in a memo to organic certifiers that certified nonfood products, specifically including personal care, may represent that they are NOP-certified [Natural Organic Program–certified] ‘organic,’ or ‘made with organic’ and display the USDA organic seal, so long as such products are certified to meet the NOP standards for organic agricultural products.”

The Dr. Bronner’s label also exemplifies a larger trend. Its crowded real estate, though not necessarily pretty to look at, is an extreme example of the remarkable crowding of information onto natural-product labeling. These elements, as we shall later see in a continuation of this two-part article, include a wide range of seals, endorsements, and certifications in an attempt to establish credibility.

Because the words organic and natural are largely unregulated outside of the food industry, a highly unstable situation results in which the terms threaten to lose all meaning—a detriment to marketers looking to use them for maximum effect.

The word natural can lose its relevance, unless the manufacturer offers a clear definition. In the world of personal care products, nothing is to stop a marketer from speaking of a “natural experience.” As long as they use the right visuals, they just may be able to win over some consumers.

Many people, however, are skeptical, if not actively combative, of efforts to use words like organic in any way other than a strictly defined sense. In the words of Dr. Bronner’s Web site, “The hollow, market-driven needs of some ‘natural’ body care companies are making a mockery of organic principles.”

Many in the industry are joining efforts such as the Campaign for Organic Integrity in Body Care Products from the Organic Consumers Association trade group (www.organicconsumers.org). Its Coming Clean campaign appears to be supported by an impressive number of leading manufacturers, including some of the big players.

Robin Sherk contributed to the research for this article.