Oh all the SIGG drama. It’s just ongoing right? In any case. Long story short (in case you’ve been on a space trip, trapped in a cave, etc)…
SIGG has spent years touting themselves as eco-friendly company who carries products that are free from potential toxins.- Consumers LOVED them.
- Come to find out that SIGG bottles had BPA all along. Maybe BPA is toxic, maybe BPA is not all that bad. Maybe the bottles leech these toxins, maybe not. These are much longer questions that need a ton more research. Maybe questions aside, consumers deserve to know what exactly they’re buying.
- SIGG wrote a letter explaining all about it and their wording made it seem like “Oops, but no big worry!”
- Then they decided to blame a third party. Lordy.
Of course throughout all this the blogosphere, other media, and consumers revolted – no one like being misled. Everyone and their dog are suggesting dumping SIGG for another, more reliable company. Patagonia ended their relationship with SIGG, and other companies are likely going to follow suit. Well, not everyone is mad at SIGG but a ton of people are very angry with them and their first lackadaisical ’sorry’ letter didn’t help ease the issue.
The new SIGG letter to consumers:
Now in response to all of the above, SIGG’s CEO Steve Wasik has released a second letter to consumers along with a longer letter at the Huffington Post, that’s actually more along the lines of what we should have seen in the first place. Wasik writes…
“After reading and responding to hundreds of emails and viewing nearly as many blog & Twitter posts, I realize that my first letter may have missed the mark. What I should have said simply and loudly to all of our loyal SIGG fans is: I am sorry that we did not make our communications on the original SIGG liner more clear from the very beginning.”
I think an apology is what people should have received all along. Wasik all adds that the voluntary Exchange Program will be in place until October 31, 2009 to ensure that customers have ample time to send their former liner bottles back to us should they choose to do so. He ends by saying…
“Once again, I truly apologize for the lack of clarity in our previous communications. All of us at SIGG hope that we will have an opportunity to regain your confidence and trust.”
What I think:
Actually, I’ve always owned a Klean Kanteen, so personally I’m not affected. In a non-personal way, I’ve been just as upset as everyone else because friends of mine were misled, consumers were misled, and it’s freaking hard enough to deal with greenwashing as a green blogger without also having to second guess which reputable and long standing companies are greenwashing.
So I’m not all that on board with SIGG at this point. However, on the flip side, it’s a very good deal that they came out and finally said “sorry” – I do like that. Because of that I’m inclined to say that there are a couple of good points still about SIGG. One, they do offer reusable water bottles over plastic disposable bottles – thus stopping some of the plastic waste that ends up in landfills and stopping some plastic production. Secondly, according to them, their new liners are BPA free, so that’s a step up. Thirdly, they do support some eco-causes like 1% for the Planet and other eco-minded non-profits. If it’s between SIGG and disposable plastic water bottles I’ll suggest SIGG every time.
I think it’ll take more than one “I’m sorry” letter to win back the public and consumers, but I’m glad to see that SIGG took that step finally.
What do you think?
I think the first apology will go down as a social media disaster, however at the end of the day people love their Siggs and if they are going to make good on giving out new bottles I think this will blow over.