Business ProfileforHippoHopp Indoor Playground

BBB's role in the marketplace is to ensure the public's confidence in advertising and promote trust in business.

In BBB's general review of HippoHopp Indoor Playground company's website, two advertised claims were found for which we requested written substantiation.

BBB reviews advertising on accredited and non-accredited businesses in every medium. Our request is based on BBB's Code of Advertising Standards that can be found at

https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising.

BBB's requests are based on these specific codes:

Basic Principles of the Code: Advertisements should be truthful, sincere offers to sell. Advertisers have a responsibility to have substantiation for all claims made and should be able to provide that substantiation upon request.

29. Subjective Puffery Claims

29.1 Expressions of opinion or personal evaluation of the intangible qualities of a product or service are likely to be considered puffery. Such claims are not subject to the test of truth and accuracy and would not need substantiation.

29.2 Puffery may include statements such as "best food in the world" and "we try harder" as well as other individual opinions, statements of corporate pride, exaggerations, blustering and boasting statements upon which no reasonable buyer would be justified in relying. Puffery also includes general claims of superiority over comparable products that are so vague that it can be understood as nothing more than a mere expression of opinion.

36. Environmental Benefit Claims

36.1 General Principles

36.1.1 Advertisers should not make broad, unqualified general environmental benefit claims like "green" or "eco-friendly."

36.1.2 Advertisers must qualify general claims with specific environmental benefits.

36.1.3 Advertisers must possess competent and reliable evidence (often scientific evidence) to support all environmental benefit claims. Qualifications for any claim must be clear, conspicuous and understandable.

36.1.4 When an advertiser qualifies a general claim with a specific benefit, the benefit should be significant. Advertisers must not highlight small or unimportant benefits.

36.1.5 Unless clear from the context, any environmental claim must specify clearly and conspicuously whether the claim applies to the product, the product's packaging, a service or just to a portion of the product, package or service.

36.2 Degradable

36.2.1 Advertisers may make an unqualified degradable claim if they have competent and reliable scientific evidence that the entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature within a reasonably short period of time after customary disposal. For items entering the solid waste stream, advertisers should substantiate that the items completely decompose within one year after customary disposal.

36.2.2 Advertisers must qualify, clearly and conspicuously, degradable claims to the extent necessary to avoid confusion about the product's or package's ability to degrade in the environment where it is customarily disposed or the rate and extent of degradation.

36.3 Recycled content

36.3.1 Advertisers must not claim that a product or package is recyclable unless it can be collected, separated or otherwise recovered from the waste stream through an established recycling program for use or reuse in manufacturing or assembling another product.

36.3.2 Advertisers must clearly and conspicuously qualify such claims where necessary, so as to not mislead or confuse consumers as to the availability of recycling facilities in the trade area.

36.3.3 Advertisers must not claim that a product or package contains recycled content unless it is composed of materials that have been recovered or otherwise diverted from the waste stream, either during the manufacturing process or after consumer use.

36.3.4 Advertisers must clearly and conspicuously qualify claims for any products or packages made partly from recycled material, for example, made from 30% recycled material.

36.4 Non-toxic

36.4.1 Non-toxic claims likely convey that a product, package or service is non-toxic both for humans and for the environment generally. Thus advertisers must either possess competent and reliable scientific evidence that this is the case or clearly and conspicuously qualify the claim to avoid confusion.

36.5 Certifications and Approvals

36.5.1 An advertiser's unqualified use of environmental certifications and seals of approval may imply to consumers that the certificate or seal was awarded by an independent third party. If that certification or seal was not, in fact, awarded by an independent third party, the advertisement must clearly and conspicuously disclose that fact.

36.5.2 In addition, environmental certifications and seals that do not clearly convey the basis for the certification are likely to convey general environmental benefits. Because claims making general environmental benefits should not be used (see section 36.1) advertisers must clearly and conspicuously disclose the specific and limited benefits to which the certificate or seal applies.
For detailed guidance, advertisers in the U.S. should consult the Federal Trade Commission Green Guides. Similarly, in Canada, advertisers should consult CAN/CSA-ISO 14021 - Environmental claims: A guide for industry and advertisers.


HippoHopp Indoor Playground did not respond to BBB.