Truth in Advertising: It applies to EHS professionals too.

When I opened my internet browser to post my previous newsletter, Our Need for Media Literacy, the article that popped up was “What to do when companies deceive you.”

This article outlines how three companies with very different products – a running shoe, granola bars and a cell phone app – all got into legal trouble due to their misleading advertising.

Do you think “truth in advertising” doesn’t apply to EHS professionals?

If so, you would be wrong.

In 2013, Connie Knight was sentenced to 57 months in prison for impersonating an OSHA officer in order to market her hazardous waste safety training course to individuals seeking employment in the oil spill cleanup effort following the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill. According to the DOJ press release – “Knight did not have any connection to OSHA, to the cleanup effort, nor did she have training in hazardous waste safety.”

Related Resources:

The ABIH Code of Ethics provides that CIHs need to “provide truthful and accurate representations to the public” in their advertising.

Click here to access the U.S. Department of Justice press release about the Connie Knight case.

Click here to access the Federal Trade Commission’s Policy Statement on Deception.