"Exposed! I'm not an ethical bag" reads the front cover of today's London Evening Standard, above a story about this week's hottest fashion item. The paper says the bag created by accessories designed Anya Hindmarch to raise awareness of green issues is neither fair trade nor organic and has been shipped to the UK from China.
The sight of huge queues outside the Sainsbury's stores selling the bags earlier this week and news that the £5 bags were changing hands for up to £175 on eBay had already caused queasiness among some ethical consumers, but today's headline is likely to bring more disquiet.
So does it matter where the bag is from - or does its message outweigh the problems of its creation? The average UK consumer uses 167 plastic bags a year and only one in 200 is recycled so raising awareness of greener alternatives is important. So too are issues surrounding the provenance of the items we in the UK love to buy - so perhaps the Standard should be congratulated for doing just that.
But does the media backlash just point up the fact that this was a fashion fad that will be forgotten as quickly as it came to our attention? Is it just a case of the eco cynics seeing an opportunity to shoot down the latest green message? Certainly, it doesn't look like it will do the cause much good at all.
