In advertising terms, to whitewash something is to clean up the facts to make a pretty picture, hiding misdeeds and scandal. Then there was greewashing, where companies knowingly spin their advertising to seem eco-friendly when the truth is the opposite. (BP’s “green” advertising image, anyone?)

Well, let’s just face it. Every time the consumer wants something new or different or perhaps more difficult to produce/acquire, there will be washing. Welcome to localwashing!

(These are all iPhone photos, people. Quality isn’t up to my normal snuff.)

This is my local King Soopers, and yes, they are trying. It is absolutely wonderful that they are trying to buy from local farmers (even though they’re listing mostly large-scale, non-organic farmers). Trying is admirable. But when you pull back from the advertising…

Yes, they are “Colorado Proud!” (Next to the oranges. Really? In Colorado?) Well, it’s kind of hard to tell what’s local, right? They will always highlight the season’s best crops, like Rocky Ford melons and Colorado corn. That’s well labeled, but the same can’t be said of all the food. You have to squint at the fine print of the signs or check the produce sticker. Most the time that works, but the results are surprising. Did you know they import bell peppers from New Zealand?

So to wrap up on the King’s produce section, hey, good try. You need to step up just a little more, making a larger percentage of products local and labeling items more clearly. Nonetheless, effort: applauded.

Now let’s move on to my local Safeway, shall we?

Hey! Local cucumbers, clearly labeled as such and promoted to entice consumers. Fantas… wait.

You see that?

Local Colorado produce, produced in Mexico! Whee, now that’s a pretty big fail, don’t you think, such a big contradiction all on one sign. Let’s check out the sign directly to the right to see if it clarifies things.

Oh, so local means Colorado. Except when it doesn’t. Only if it’s available, cheap and up to your quality standards, whatever those are. So it’s local, what? A few days of the week? A few days a month? Twice a year? Can that justify the big sign saying “locally grown”?

If BP had an excellent environmental record a few days a week or once a month or twice a year, does that make them “green”?

No. Just no.

It’s not that difficult to change out the signs when local cucumbers aren’t available and put up one that says they’re from Mexico (not on a “locally grown” placard, of course). I’m sure, dear Safeway, that you must change out placards relatively often and that it wouldn’t be a big hassle. Instead, I have to infer that you are consciously trying to mislead people who are trying to eat local in order to capitalize on the growing local food movement.

And that, my friends, is localwashing. The best thing we can do to combat it is blow the whistle on the companies who do it and continue to ask for real local options. When enough consumers approach the produce department and say, “Hey, what’s local today?” they’re going to realize that the scale is tipping, that they’ll actually have to DO what they say they’re doing rather than go through the motions.