Helping Green Marketers Make More Green

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Helping Green Marketers Make More Green In this constantly changing economy, companies are continuously looking for new ways to set themselves apart from their competitors. In recent years, environmental, or “green,” marketing has become a new trend. The movement first started in the 1970s during the hippie movement in which consumers began to express concern for the preservation of the environment (Jenkins and Kähler). On top of this increasing environmental awareness, now consumers are also beginning to care a lot more about what goes on behind the scenes in the companies that they buy from. People want to support companies with a conscious. According to the Salem Press Encyclopedia, the definition of green marketing is “The touting of the environmental benefits of a product, service, or company to bolster its image and encourage sales” (Jenkins and Kähler). With this in mind, corporations did some research and discovered that not only can green marketing help facilitate a positive brand identity, but it can also help reduce costs in the long run (Jenkins and Kähler). This new socially responsible idea seemed genius at the start, but now the trend has hit a wall. This hiatus is a result of lack of customer information about the actual effects of “green” products, confusion and overload in the marketplace regarding vague and un-standardized labels, and the failure of companies to clearly illustrate the added value of their “green” products or services. If all these discrepancies are handled, one can assume that consumers will race to the stores to purchase items that will make the world a “greener” more socially responsible place. In a perfect world, everyone would do the right thing all the time and environmental issues would... ... middle of paper ... ...International Refereed Research Journal 4.3. (2013): 26-32. Web. 6 March 2014. Jenkins, Allan and Karen N. Kähler. "Green Marketing." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2013): Research Starters. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. Lovett, Gina. "Landor Survey Reveals Confusion About Greenness." Design Week 22.20 (2007): 7. Business Source Premier. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Mishra, Pavan and Sharma, Payal. “Green Marketing: Challenges and Opportunities for Businesses.” Journal of Marketing and Communication 8.1. (2012): 35-41. Web. 6 March 2014. Tucker, Elizabeth M., et al. "A Test Of Green Claim Types And The Role Of Individual Consumer Characteristics For Green Ad Response." Journal Of Advertising 41.4 (2012): 9-23. Business Source Premier. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Villano, Matt. "Selling Green." Entrepreneur 39.11 (2011): 52-56. Business Source Premier. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.

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