Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating Lululemon

globalnews.ca:

Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating Lululemon over concerns the company is misleading consumers about its environmental impacts, after an advocacy group filed a complaint with the federal watchdog alleging “greenwashing.”

In a statement to Global News, a Competition Bureau spokesperson confirmed the Bureau “has commenced an investigation under the Competition Act into the alleged deceptive marketing practices.”

Marianne Blondin noted “There is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time.”

Stand.earth released a letter dated April 26, 2024, from the Competition Bureau in which the Bureau says it launched an inquiry into whether Lululemon’s marketing includes untrue claims about the company’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

Stand.earth asked the bureau to investigate earlier this year, alleging some of the company’s advertising is “false and misleading.”

Lululemon did not respond when asked about the allegations on Monday by deadline.

Stand.earth’s complaint pointed to Lululemon’s 2020 “Be Planet” campaign, in which the company claims “our products and actions avoid environmental harm and contribute to restoring a healthy planet.”

“What we’ve learned over the last two years really, is that that kind of image is not much more than a façade,” Stand.earth climate campaigner Rachel Kitchin told Global News.

Kitchin said Lululemon’s marketing in the campaign amounts to “greenwashing,” which she defines as when “a company or a business uses the messaging of the environment in order to mislead customers or mislead people about the environmental impact of their products.”

She said the Competition Bureau accepting Stand.earth’s request to investigate “should serve as a real kind of warning not just to Lululemon but to all of