Toxic Free Choice says it’s “dedicated to helping consumers make the absolute safest and best decisions for their personal non-toxic journey.” A better description might read: We’re a business that scares readers with misguided assertions about perfectly safe products – and then promotes alternatives that could earn us a commission [Our words, not theirs].
We’ll explain … TFC recently published this blog post containing a screed of tired and misleading claims about PVC coolers. It starts this way:
This guide to non-toxic coolers is here to help you swap out conventional plastic options for safe, family-friendly coolers that keep your food cold without dangerous chemicals.
The post quickly takes aim at PVC. “Keeping your drinks chilled shouldn’t come with a side of PVC,” it states. Citing “toxic materials to avoid completely,” the piece identifies PVC at the top of the list.
It then goes on to quote a row of anti-PVC claims by career “hysterians” who have been debunked, corrected, or refuted, over and over and over again. The blog irresponsibly suggests vinyl chloride is ever-present in PVC coolers (it’s not) and encourages readers to believe the industry isn’t regulated when it’s one of the most regulated industries in the nation.
And all throughout, the post cherry picks research studies that don’t hold up to scientific scrutiny to promote the view that people should avoid PVC coolers altogether.
It doesn’t stop there. After a litany of misstatements about PVC, the piece includes a long list of recommended PVC-free cooler brands, complete with reviews – and links where people can purchase each item. (Spoiler alert: One costs just under $800.00).
One might think TFC wrote this because they care deeply about the environment. But the real purpose of the TFC blog may be something else entirely – something readers could easily overlook: Making money.
A reference at the top of the piece, in small print, reads: “This post may contain affiliate links.” Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the page, and this appears:
The Toxic Free Choice is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
The word “affiliate” is a vague and often-used marketing term that, by design, is invoked to create an appearance of transparency without explaining what it actually means. Market research giant Gartner is a bit more direct in describing it: “Affiliate marketing is commission-based. Affiliates advertise a business’s products, and commission is paid to the affiliates based on leads or conversions delivered via their advertising.”
Translation: TFC potentially earns a fee every time web users click on a link that redirects them to a product TFC promotes.
The public has a right to know when groups like TFC – that posture as public health advocates – act as commission-based advertisers of product lines they promote. Readers deserve to have the details of these financial arrangements clearly spelled out, so they can decide for themselves if the content they’re reading is sound – or just a sales job.
Few know what the word “affiliate” even means – but most know when they’re being pitched to buy something. When a group like TFC writes a blog and attacks the integrity of a product category in the name of public safety – and then promotes a set of competing products that may earn them a commission – their claims lack credibility and deserve serious reader scrutiny.
Making matters worse, TFC isn’t a nonprofit organization. It’s a business: A “Susty Trade LLC company,” where it describes itself as a “media brand” based in Chicago, IL:
We see this all the time with agenda-driven sites that have a seemingly altruistic purpose in promoting alternative products in the spirit of public safety. In truth, many sites are profiting by scaring people about items that have been used safely for decades.
People trust PVC in coolers and in thousands of other consumer items because of the material’s safety, reliability, durability, and affordability. People don’t trust companies that prey – and profit – on people’s fears by distorting the facts.