The Audi “Green Police” Super Bowl commercial last night was a major letdown for many environmentalists (not all), as well as a major shot in the arm for extremists on both sides.  I think it was a marketing fail on Audi’s behalf not to take a more grounded approach… or at least hit their target properly.  And I explain why here on AshleySue.

Steve Wasik, CEO of Swiss-made SIGG water bottles, finally offers his full apology for not disclosing to the public that the resin epoxy liner of their reusable water bottles contains trace levels of BPA in products manufactured before August 2008 ~ an admission that made many of their best and biggest advocates outraged and heartbroken.

Unfortunately, I am still learning to be a green CEO. When I took this position, I naively assumed that “green” meant being a steward of the environment…  However, being a green company also means being held to the highest degree of corporate transparency.

I appreciate Steve Wasik’s apology.  A sincere apology is always better late than never.

Regardless, as a CEO, Wasik has failed.  (more…)

After (in my opinion) butchering their relationship with loyal customers when they announced in August 2009 that SIGG bottles manufactured before August 2008 did contain trace levels of BPA, SIGG Switzerland (USA) is attempting to regain consumer trust again. Now, SIGG will also deal with a federal class action lawsuit against the company for misleading the public.

Health advocates and environmentalists have pushed to remove BPA from food and beverage containers for years.  CEO Steve Wasik’s letter admitted to working on a BPA-free liner for their aluminum reusable bottles since at least 2006.  Of course, the confidence shattered due to SIGG’s refusal to admit, and further providing misleading information, to consumers until one year after their new BPA-free “Eco”-liner debuted.

After reading the letter myself, I emailed SIGG myself (liners@mysigg.com):

To Whom It May Concern:

I write to inform you how my trust and loyalty in your company have been damaged.  I am angry that you mislead your customers, as you have.  Call it whatever you wish, but lying by omission is still lying.  You snuck around admitting what you knew about your product.  You waited until a year after making the switch to a new BPA-free formula to announce any of this to the public.  You had an AMAZING opportunity to practice honest relations and engagement with your public, as well as to create an huge success story and newsworthy promo-piece last August.  Instead, a year later, your public, including me, feels deceived.  This trust will be hard to regain.  My SIGG is now questionable as to whether I will continue to use it, or if I will share the best publicity for you guys ~ word of mouth.  I wrote a piece, posted on both of my own blogs regarding this concern.

I would like to know how you plan to rectify this situation with your customers, including myself.

I look forward to your timely response.

Ashley Sue Allen

In less than a day, I received a response from a SIGG representative (any underlining or text emphasis is how I received it):

Dear Ashley,

Please know that your SIGG bottles are proven 100% safe and do not leach anything [including BPA] into the beverages that have been poured into them.  Extensive independent testing shows this and are located here for your discernment:  http://mysigg.com/bulletin/testing.html

We understand your concern and will gladly replace your bottle[s] with brand new SIGG bottles featuring our EcoCare, BPA free liner.  We ask that you return your old bottles to us as proof of purchase and so that we may recycle them. Please confirm you have the old liners in all bottles being returned to us by visiting http://mysigg.com/liner – New liner bottles, or stainless steel bottles returned to us will only be returned to you and slow down the replacement process significantly.

Attached please find our return form.

Please print and fill this out and ship the bottle[s] back to us.  Upon receipt, we will issue you a gift certificate pin code good toward the purchase of replacement bottles on mysigg.com, this will include the shipping.  No need to return any tops or the caps currently on your bottles, as these are BPA free and may come in handy as extras when you receive your replacement[s].

We enclose a mailing label with the appropriate RMA, please USE THIS shipping label on the outside of your package so that we may expedite the processing of your return.   Failure to use this label will cause your package to be misdirected in our warehouse, and seriously delay your replacement.  Please note that this mailing label does not include postage for the bottles you are returning.  We are sorry for the inconvenience.  You may choose to keep your current bottle as they have been proven not to leach, [http://mysigg.com/bulletin/testing.html] but if you want to upgrade your bottle[s], you will have to bear the cost of returning it to us.  Thank you in advance for your kind understanding in this regard.

If you have any questions, please hit reply to this email [liners@mysigg.com] and let us know.

As you see, I was offered the option of sending my beloved SIGG bottle back to them, on my dime, for a credit to purchase a new one free of charge from their website.  They cover shipping of the new bottle.

I also posted information on the hyperlocal news website MyNC.com, where a commenter named “Tom” posted a link to a federal class action suit against SIGG.

Yes, Tom informed me, legal action is being taken against SIGG.

I will keep updates going on GG, so stay tuned, or please share any info you know.

Sustainably yours,  Ashley Sue