The good people at GoodGuide.com describe their site as "the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of the products in your home." And by compiling virtually all available information relating to the packaged goods you purchase and the companies that make them, they're not kidding. The site is still in Beta, but already shows huge promise, as evidenced by its steadily growing traffic over the past year since its launch.

GoodGuide rates the products you buy on several scales, including their impact on your health, their impact on the environment, and their manufacturer's impact on society (based on hiring practices, etc.). These and other scores, including user reviews, are averaged into a global GoodGuide Rating, allowing users to see, at a glance, which products are the most popular and socially responsible within a given category. And all this content is generated, mind you, without the slightest involvement on the part of the products' manufacturers themselves.

Marketing efforts be damned, this site is like Consumer Reports on steroids, and we think it'll catch on.

Today's generation is simultaneously hyper-wired and hyper-conscious of their environmental impact. GoodGuide’s is exactly the kind of info 20- and 30-somethings will arm themselves with when choosing how to spend their money. They are less inclined to trust brands just because they’re “mainstream” or well advertised, and more likely to go to sites like GoodGuide (or use their iPhone app) to research purchases beforehand. 

So, not only is this the kind of site that could really unseat category leaders if they have some shameful corporate practices hidden behind flashy marketing, it’s also the kind of site that could help smaller, more socially responsible manufacturers really earn a following. Talk about corporate accountability.

There's been lots of talk lately about how the future of marketing will be largely in the hands of consumers and their ability to recommend purchases to each other based on the growing amount of information available to them beyond official marketing messages. Here's a concrete example of what that might look like.

But where does that leave you, o Advertiser? How do you market a product to consumers who largely avoid marketing messages? What kind of brand strategy takes into account and reaches these consumers who are essentially "going rogue" when it comes to traditional marketing practices? Is it "social?" Probably. Is it radically different from what you're doing now? Most likely. Does this mean the death of advertising? Absolutely not.

If you sell something, see how your products measure up at GoodGuide.com. And if the answer is "not very well," let the good people of Meyer & Wallis help you improve your brand's image. With more than 40 years of success behind us, we know a thing or two about reaching a changing world with relevant, effective advertising.