The National Advertising Division (NAD) recently found that Apple Inc. had adequate support for its claim that its MacBook line of notebook computers is the “greenest.”  Dell, Inc. challenged Apple Inc. for its express claim that its MacBook notebooks were the “world’s greenest family of notebooks.”  Dell, Inc. also challenged the implied claim that Apple’s notebooks were greener than competing notebook computers.  The claims were made in connection with statements that the MacBook notebooks were (1) free of many harmful toxins often found in computers; (2) highly recyclable; (3) more energy efficient; and (4) shipped with less packing materials. 

Apple Inc. supported its “greenest” claim through a variety of evidence.  Apple noted that all of its notebooks are rated by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), and that 89 percent of them are gold-rated (the highest percentage in the industry). 1Apple also showed that it was the only company to eliminate mercury from its new line of MacBook notebooks.  Apple further noted that all of its MacBooks are ENERGY STAR compliant.

After reviewing environmental information about Apple’s notebooks and its competitors’ notebooks, the NAD found that competitors were manufacturing some products that had received EPEAT ratings equal to Apple’s.  However, the NAD found that no manufacturer, other than Apple, had made the decision to only manufacture notebooks that received EPEAT ratings.  Although the NAD found that Apple had substantiated its “greenest” claim, the NAD advised Apple to alter the language of the claim to make it clearer that the comparison in the advertisement is between all MacBooks and all of the notebooks manufactured by any given competitor. 

The NAD recommended this change because it found that some manufacturers had produced notebooks with higher EPEAT ratings but that no manufacturer’s notebook lines were, as a whole, “greener.”  For example, while all MacBook notebooks may be greener than all Toshiba notebooks, one line in the Toshiba brand is greener than the MacBooks product line.  Apple, in response to the NAD decision, agreed to replace the word “family” in its advertising to more effectively communicate that its “world’s greenest” claim pertains to all of Apple’s notebooks.  Apple currently advertises its MacBook notebooks as “the world’s greenest lineup of notebooks.”

Manufacturers wishing to advertise their products’ environmental benefits should seek legal counsel before making such claims.  For further information, please contact:

1 Products are assigned a gold, silver, or bronze EPEAT rating based of the number of environmental criteria the product meets.

Anthony V. Lupo
lupo.anthony@arentfox.com
202.857.6353

Matthew R. Mills
mills.matthew@arentfox.com
202.715.8582