ec-H20 Claims Still Being Challenged

According to a recent article published by the Pioneer Press at Twincities.com, Tennant Co.’s ecH20, also known as “electrified water”, has received heavy criticism from the company’s competitors. In fact, competitors in Europe, including Alfred Karcher & Co. and Nilfisk-Advance, have taken their argument against the technology to the court, with legal or regulatory decisions against Tennant in three countries and a fourth set for the future.

However, even with the controversy in full swing, Tennant stands by its technology and plans to appeal any court decisions. The controversy started in 2008 when Tennant first introduced ec-H20 and claimed that the water is electrically charged by equipment inside the scrubber. Through this electric activation, Tennant claims the water is converted into an environmentally clean cleaning agent, which enables the water to act like a detergent.

These claims caused suspicion among competitors who said that Tennant’s advertisements about its ec-H20 technology were “misleading.” To date, the company’s technology has been challenged several times, including by a regional court in Germany, the British Advertising Standards Authority and the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in the U.S.

The Germany court found several of Tennant's advertisements about its ec-H2O technology "misleading." That included claims that the ec-H2O process "activates water to perform like a powerful detergent," and that it "makes its own powerful cleaner." This decision required Tennant to change its advertising. The BBB’s advertising division and the British authority both found Tennant’s claims to be inadequately supported by the evidence in comparative tests and recommended that the claims be discontinued. However, as these are self-regulating agencies, these decisions are nonbinding.

Tennant’s competitors are not giving up so easily though, and now a Belgium court will challenge the claims.

To learn more about the rulings and ec-H20 claims, read the full article here.

BBB Recommends Tennant Discontinue Certain Claims for ec-H20

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB) has recommended that Tennant Company, a manufacturer of commercial floor cleaning equipment, discontinue certain claims promoting the superior performance of the company’s “ec-H20” technology. Nilfisk-Advance, Inc. challenged the following claims at issue before NAD:

• ec-H20 “electrically converts water into a superior cleaning solution.”
• “Independent studies show that ec-H20 outperforms [many] conventional chemicals.”
• “ec-H20 technology makes water perform like a powerful detergent.”
• “Tennant ec-H20 is proven to reduce environmental impact by up to 98%”

The advertiser asserted that it had permanently discontinued some of the claims at issue, prior to the challenge, including “Tennant’s ec-H20 is proven to reduce environmental impact by up to 98%” and “ec-H20 technology makes water perform like a powerful detergent,” measures NAD deemed necessary and proper.

Following its review of the evidence in the record, NAD determined that the remaining advertiser’s claims, “ec-H20 electrically converts water into a superior cleaning solution” and “ec-H20 outperforms [many] conventional chemicals” were broad superiority claims of floor cleaning performance that were not adequately supported by the evidence of comparative testing in the record. NAD recommended that these claims be discontinued.

NAD determined that although the advertiser established that ec-H20 technology can help customers reduce costs of chemicals, a message the advertiser is free to communicate, the evidence in the record was insufficient to support the advertiser’s quantified save “up to 100%” claim. NAD recommended that the claim be discontinued.

Tennant, in its advertiser’s statement, said the company “stands behind the advertising claims it has made about ec-H20 technology and does not agree with all of NAD’s recommendations. However, since the advertising claims at issue in this challenge have run their planned course, Tennant Company will consider the NAD’s recommendations in future advertising.”

Read the full press release at nadreview.org or download at http://www.narcpartners.org/DocView.aspx?DocumentID=9024&DocType=1

Tennant Abandons ec-H20 Advertising Claims

Nilfisk-Advance recently announced that ongoing efforts to expose Tennant’s misleading advertising claims regarding the performance of its ec-H20 technology have resulted in Tennant’s abandonment of those claims.

Upon launch of its ec-H20 technology, Tennant for years widely boasted on its website and in its marketing materials that “ec-H20 converts water into a powerful detergent.” Following the public disclosure of extensive third-party scientific testing that concluded ec-H20 performs no better than plain tap water, Tennant modified its advertising claim to “ec-H20 converts water into a superior cleaning solution.” Recently, Tennant has even abandoned that claim, and no longer asserts in its advertising that ec-H20 is a “powerful” or “superior” cleaning solution. Tennant has not produced any reliable and independent scientific evidence that proves that its ec-H20 technology cleans floor surfaces better than plain tap water, or as well as chemical detergents.

Industry critique of Tennant’s false claims first publicly surfaced when Nilfisk-Advance announced the results of independent testing November 2010, December 2010 and March 2011. Other industry players also questioned the veracity of Tennant’s claims, including industry leaders Diversey and Karcher. Karcher, a German company, has also brought legal action in Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom against Tennant alleging misleading advertising. Those proceedings are pending, and a decision in the German case is expected in late April 2012.

Read the full release here: http://www.clarkeus.com/aboutus/NewsAndEvents/News/TennantAbandonsec-H20.aspx

Stay tuned for more news about this topic!