Don’t Fall Prey to the Word ‘Natural’

Anyone that has been in the marketing industry is well aware of the attraction of the word ‘natural’. In the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and even through the cross over to the new millennium, companies have been plastering labels with every concept of ‘natural’ that they knew would capture the buying consumer, but the delivery was often far from anything that could be remotely associated with a natural item. 

Over the years, marketing companies have added manmade chemical scent combinations that have included lemon and lavender as the most popular. These are often combined with beautiful images of open fields, groves of trees or anything that could relate to nature. The purpose, of course, was to capture the consumer dollar as they assumed they were buying something that was healthier.

Herbals and botanicals have also achieved a high rating on the consumer buying list. From shampoos to laundry detergents, many of the manufacturers include additives that simulate these scents as well as potentially a very minor amount of the herb or botanical to entice and trap the consumer. On average, the percentage of the herbal or botanical is so low that if you read the label it may appear as part of the very last ingredients.

The word ‘natural’ has taken on a life of its own as people make the assumption that natural correlates with the word ‘healthy’. There are so many things in nature that are not only harmful but can be deadly toxins and poisons, so the word ‘natural’ is completely misleading.

Sadly, some of the more recent marketing attempts has been to target new parents with natural baby products. They think of everything, including the packaging and the images to entice a new parent to purchase a product that may actually not be as healthy as they believe.

If you are seriously interested in reducing the additives, chemicals and toxins in products that you purchase you need to read the label. The ingredients that a manufacturer displays should have the active or main ingredient in its natural form or as an essential oil at the top of the ingredient list.  Do your due diligence and make a quick study of those additives that are not considered healthy and if they are on the ingredients label, they are misleading you.