As a Minnesotan there are many things, I enjoy about the state… the lakes, the cold winters and beautiful summers, the state fair, and Target. Yes, Target. Minnesota is home to Target headquarters which is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a loyal shopper and fan, I am always excited to visit a Target. I have come to find myself in Target more often in the past year because I work as an independent contractor with their affiliate business ‘Shipt’. Shipt is a shopping service that allows customers to shop online and have another person go into the store, pick their products off of the shelves and have it delivered straight to their door with no contact all by the power of an app! As a worker of Shipt for just over a year I can certainly say I am familiar with the products and brands Target offers, as well as the marketing tools they have used and how they have changed.
Just last week as I was entering in the Target I typically visit when home, had new signs up from when I visited the week earlier in colors of bright green in the health and beauty aisles labeled ‘Target Clean’. I recalled that in the spring of 2019 they introduced new eco-friendly product lines and a strong environmental platform on their website. I was curious as to when the online presence would hit individual stores and less than a year later it happened. As I left the store last Saturday, I took it upon myself to look at this advertising further and visited their website.
The clean symbol means that those indicated products contain no phthalates, propyl-paraben & butylparaben, sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) & other ingredients you may not want (Target.com, 2020). This is appealing to read and attractive to the eye, but also one of the first clues that something may be greenwashed, so I decided to see how these products cross compare to the ratings on the Environmental Working Group’s website to see if it matches up to the ‘clean standard’ it is trying to promote.
As I am in the market for a new deodorant, I have decided to compare the following anti- perspirant brands: Native, Megababe, Schmidt’s, Love Beauty & Planet, and Tom’s.
For a basis of understanding EWG’s ranking system of products is on a 1-10 scale and goes as follows:
1-2 = Low environmental hazard
3-6 = Moderate environmental hazard
7-10 = High environmental hazard
E = EWG Verified
What is significant about the EWG verification and how it differs from the scale is that it follows an even stricter criteria for transparency and health, their team of toxicologists, chemists and epidemiologists – scrutinizes every product so you can be sure that a product bearing the EWG VERIFIED symbol meets their strictest standards (EWG.org, 2020.). This symbol goes above and beyond and has gotten the clear for the best possible clearance for consumer use.
Navigating the website is easy and had all the brands that Target was promoting and here was the breakdown of the 5 brands.
Native: 11/15 were given a 1 or 2 rating, while 4/15 were a 3 rating
Megababe: 2/2 were given a 3 rating
Schmidt’s: 18/21 were given a 1 or 2 rating, while 3/21 given a 3 rating
Love Beauty and Planet: 5/5 were given a 3 rating
Tom’s: 16/46 were given a 1 or 2 rating, while 30/46 were given a 3 or 4 rating
After finding out this information I was thoroughly surprised with this information and happy to see that many of them had low ratings, but a small part wished they had the EWG verification on it. Nonetheless I was pleased that the products were all below a 4 on the scale with the majority being between 1-3 when 1-2 is the green zone.
As the second leading retailer in the country I approve of the steps Target is taking to promote the safer and environmentally friendly products. I haven’t seen other companies do this in-stores, so Target is leading the pack in active measures to ensure customers that are looking get in-store clean products can do that. The price ranges are different than their competition, but as someone who is willing to pay a little more to know what I am getting doesn’t pose an issue to me, but that may differ from customer to customer.
All in all, I am excited to explore the in-store experience and purchase some new and clean-approved products to see if their performance is as good as their display!
-Gabby
Environmental Sustainability Working Group @ OU 