After our report last week that Evenflo was dropping polycarbonate bottles, we got an email today from a PR person who told us, hold the phone, this isn’t true.
Apparently, the Evenflo marketing rep we met in Vegas who told us the company was going to stop making polycarbonate baby bottles in 2008 was . . . "mistaken:"
A posting on the Baby Bargains book blog inaccurately states that Evenflo is planning to phase out polycarbonate baby bottles in 2008. We would like to clarify this information.
Evenflo is committed to the safety and quality of its products and, along with the Juvenile Product Manufacturing Association and others, we stand by the body of scientific research which demonstrates that plastic baby bottles are safe. Evenflo has sold both polycarbonate and glass bottles for many years and will continue to do so to both meet consumer preferences and to provide a choice to moms.
Well, this wouldn’t be the first time a company rep mistakenly told us the truth misspoke about a company’s future plans . . . but it does raise an odd question. While in Evenflo’s booth, we noted that Evenflo plans to tout some of its bottles are "BPA-free" on its packaging in 2008—-yes, nice red stickers that say this bottle is "BPA-FREE!"
So if polycarbonate bottles with BPA are completely safe . . . why would you call out other bottles as being free of BPA? Which is totally safe, by the way.
To this, Evenflo ducks the question: their PR person deftly answers that "Evenflo wants to provide choices for moms" when it comes to baby bottles.
We wonder if Evenflo’s lawyers (who are currently reading this blog while billing the company $275 per hour) blew a gasket when they realized someone at the company actually revealed their 2008 plans to phase out polycarbonate bottles. Publicly backing away from a product could paint a giant red target on your back in a liability lawsuit . . . so better to disavow that statement and blame the sales rep for being an idiot.
Well, that’s our opinion. We could be wrong.
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Well, that just gives me yet another reason to stick with buying ‘Born Free’ baby bottles – available at Babies R US and Whole Foods. Evenflow needs to pull their heads out their ***** and dump polycarbonate bottles. It would be the conservative thing to do and with their % of marketshare & brand loyalty they have, I dont see how it could hurt sales. If anything, they have the potential to gain customers who would not buy their bottles with Bisphenol A.
Well, that just gives me yet another reason to stick with buying ‘Born Free’ baby bottles – available at Babies R US and Whole Foods. Evenflow needs to pull their heads out their ***** and dump polycarbonate bottles. It would be the conservative thing to do and with their % of marketshare & brand loyalty they have, I dont see how it could hurt sales. If anything, they have the potential to gain customers who would not buy their bottles with Bisphenol A.
Just because they plan to offer BPA free bottles doesn’t mean that they know that BPA is harmful. It means they know that many parents think BPA is harmful, and that they can get better margins on the product by labeling it as BPA free.
I have no doubt in my mind that Evenflo thinks BPA is safe that they are going to cash in on the fears that parents have. If they do stop making the polycarbonate bottles, it’ll only be because enough parents stopped buying them.
Just because they plan to offer BPA free bottles doesn’t mean that they know that BPA is harmful. It means they know that many parents think BPA is harmful, and that they can get better margins on the product by labeling it as BPA free.
I have no doubt in my mind that Evenflo thinks BPA is safe that they are going to cash in on the fears that parents have. If they do stop making the polycarbonate bottles, it’ll only be because enough parents stopped buying them.