When we hear the words “deceptive marketing”, we generally think of campaigns that promote the blatantly false or grossly exaggerated “benefits” of a product (i.e. the butt-sculpting superpower of Sketchers Shape Ups or the death-cheating health claims of POM juice). In cases like these, the offending parties are held accountable by the FTC for intentionally misleading consumers. The public doesn’t like being lied to, and we rely on governing bodies and uniform regulations to protect us.

But what about the marketing we encounter every time we visit a grocery store? In our increasingly health-conscious society, more and more people are checking labels to make sure they are feeding their families the most nutritious, least harmful foods possible. But what many don’t realize is that labels reading “all natural” or “farm fresh” don’t necessarily mean what people think they mean; in fact, due to a lack of regulation, many such buzz words mean virtually nothing at all.

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Come November, California will vote on an initiative that would require labeling of foods that contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

Since the news broke last week that the Right to Know initiative will officially be on the ballot, there has been much speculation over how corporations would handle this potentially industry-wide PR issue should the law be passed (if the recent Kashi/GMO soy scandal is any indicator, it could get pretty ugly).

Stacy Malkan, spokesperson for the Right to Know campaign, told Organic Connections Magazine, “This initiative is pretty simple. It’s about our fundamental right to make informed choices about the food we eat and feed our families.” And Grant Lundberg, CEO of Lundberg Family Farms in the Sacramento Valley was quoted as saying, “More than 40 other countries—including all of Europe, Japan and even China—label genetically engineered food. Californians deserve to be able to make informed choices too.”

And California is likely just the beginning.

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