The blue box for Clif Zbar snack food features a skateboarding child on the front, and on the bottom the words “certified climate neutral.”
But the carefully chosen phrase doesn’t guarantee Zbars are climate neutral, the productmaker says in a court case that raises broad questions about the marketing of the consumer product as climate-friendly.
A federal lawsuit in Illinois accuses Zbar manufacturer Mondelēz International of Chicago with false and misleading advertising. A California consumer claims she was tricked into paying more for the product because it seemed more climate friendly.
In reality, the legal claim by Cynthia Salguero argues Zbar products are made and sold in a way that “results in substantial carbon emissions, other greenhouse gas emissions, and harm to the climate.”
