This is exactly why I said, this kind of thing can't get too extreme. It will only work as a guide that encourages and educates people or it will not work at all.
The idea (to me anyways) was to have a color coded list that let people know there may be some risks or difficulty involved with a species of fish they want to keep and what to look out for and do to give the fish a good chance at survival. This is why I though that suggesting an alternative was very important if your going to try to encourage someone not to buy a certain fish. The powder brown that keeps coming up is a great example--don't tell people not to buy the, just encourage them to get the right species (which is much prettier anyways
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I still believe this can work but as I said earlier, I also don't believe there are too many fish that can't be kept in home aquariums (of the commonly available species) if people are educated and have the right set up. Hopefully the "list" would just stop some impulse buys and people who were on the fence about a certain species.
I think it was all meant to be good but maybe started out a little extreme. Wording is everything if you want to people to listen, especially if you are trying to encourage them to NOT do something they want to do.