In today’s day and age, everyone is concerned about the environment. Our society is increasingly encouraged to “go green,” to do our part in making the world a cleaner, more eco-friendly place. Green marketing is one major strategy being used to promote such efforts, but is it effective? There is some debate about this concept, including the history of green marketing, the problems with green marketing so far, the effectiveness of marketing schemes like Sunchips and Toyota, and the strategies that could be used to increase the ability of green marketing. While protecting our planet is a noble concept, its execution seems to be a little vague. Of all the aspects concerning green marketing, one thing is clear: our planet still has a long way to go if we want to go green.
Green marketing is defined as a trend in business where companies create an image of themselves as an environmentally friendly organization in order to gain favor with environmentally conscious customers (Rottkamp 1). First started in the 1980s, green marketing emerged as a strategy to endorse products that were said to be good for the environment. It began with the creation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports to examine the habits of companies so that it could be determined who was conducting business in a more environmentally-friendly way (McClendon 1). Additionally, it is usually used to promote awareness and encourage consumers to adopt habits that are better for the environment. While this movement has gained some popularity in recent years, it is still not a major aspect in large corporations. Nonetheless, many businesses have attempted to “go green.”
It seems, in recent years particularly, that several companies have begun to embrace the gr...
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Supplying eco-friendly products has been on the Walmart agenda since the early 1990s. After a failed first attempt and much criticism, the company decided to try again. In a speech made in October of 2005, CEO of Walmart, H. Lee Scott Jr., declared Walmart would devise a “business sustainable strategy” to reduce the environmental impact the company had. Walmart could not pull this off alone. If they only focused on the confines of themselves, rather than all that they were involved with, it was estimated that they’d only reduce their impact by about 10%. To reach that goal of 100%, Walmart had to involve stakeholders to make networks which achieve sustainability. These networks proved to be vital in not only Walmart’s goal in minimizing its environmental impact, but recovering their reputation, avoiding criticism, saving money, raising awareness, improving customer satisfaction, and creating incentive for other businesses to work towards sustainability.
Green washing: The disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. In order for big companies to stay on top of the market today, they are forced to think of advertising strategies to help their public image and advertise their product. Over the years the system has become very complex and also very questionable. Companies are willing to lie, change their logo, and sometimes even their company name just to keep their name and image clean in front of the public just to make sure that they are making their money. Green washing helps this by advertising to the public that they are environmentally supportive and responsible. Most people that are into buying “green products” do not even realize that the company they are buying from is green washing in some sort of way just so that they can attract attention to the public. Green washing companies may advertise that they are “eco-friendly”, but when it comes down to it, the facts hidden behind the curtains beg to differ. Just like in the green washing video we watched in class, the companies may look great compared to the worst companies, but that does not mean what they are doing is still productive for our environmental movement. One company that has been notorious for their green washing efforts for the past couple of decades is the Oil/energy company: British Petroleum a.k.a. Beyond Petroleum. They are one of the world’s largest leading oil companies who has also becoming a large energy supplying company with presence in petrochemicals, gas, and solar divisions. Over the past twenty years BP has been the cause of several deadly disasters in the oil business in the U.S. and around the world. Despite their green washing effor...
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One of the largest and biggest market for Unilever dominated by their brand PG Tips comprised a market worth of £850 million. Unilver’s research outcome suggested that the average profile of a consumer in this market is well aware of the issues surrounding sustainability and has moderate knowledge of what it means to be sustainable while doing your business, but are unwilling to pay a bigger price for sustainable products. Since the main aim for their sustainable products was to deliver a product that is sustainable but will not have a change in price on the shelves helped the marketing strategy developers in Unilever to focus on telling the story of the Rainforest Alliance certified products and what it means to be a part of it as a consumer.
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This paper will discuss the five environmental factors that influence global and domestic marketing decisions that organizations must make. These five environmental factors are technology, demographics, government, culture and economics. Companies are affected differently by these factors depending on the industry they are in and the size of the organization. I will be using the Washington Plaza Hotel to illustrate how these environmental factors affect the hotel industry's marketing decisions. The Washington Plaza Hotel is a hospitality business located in Washington, DC. They offer services such as lodging, restaurant, bar, catering and meeting space rental. The Washington Plaza Hotel's major customer base is government, tourist, non-profit organizations, local businesses and some corporate clientele. Let's now take a look at how these environmental factors affect the marketing of the hotel.
$6. In addition, paperless promotion can be used in promoting Green Express, such as coupon from an app or discount for dine in customer as they did not use any extra boxes or utensils. By using the marketing mix strategy Green Express can get into the drifters segmentation where customers is price sensitivity dictates their action and have a good intention, drifters follow trends when it is easy and affordable. Furthermore, if Green Express can keep its price competitive within the market after turn into the environmental friendly business, the sustainable purchase perception matrix will then move from a “Why Not Purchases”, which is low degree in both confidence and compromise to a Win-Win Purchases, which is low degree of compromise and high degree of confidence.
Etzel, Michael J., Stanton, Bruce J., Stanton, William J. (2004). Marketing. (13th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
To help further explain these misleading claims, a well recognized company by the media is called Terrachoice. “The Terrachoice Environment Marketing Consulting practice converts knowledge of markets, science and marketing into winning, client-centered solutions to help sustainability leaders deliver results” (“The "six sins," 2007). Terrachoice has conducted a study of the “Environmental Claims in North American Consumer Markets” and found shocking results that made them want to give warning to potential consumers about the ‘six sins of greenwashing. The Terrachoice Company was designed to improve the communication between the purchasers and consumers, helping to enhance, strengthen, and prove market relationship.
Belz, F., & Peattie, K 2012, Sustainability marketing: a global perspective (2nd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
In conclusion, going green in the workplace is catchy new trend. Choosing to go verdant can be a grueling task and one that is confronted with some unique pros and cons. Although making green choices come at a slightly higher price, the rewards that are earned more than cover these costs. When a company chooses wisely going green can not only help the environment, and reduce the carbon foot-print the company makes but it can also prove to be a very smart business decision that can be financially gratifying.
Jobber, D. (2013), and Ellis-Chadwick, F, “Principles and Practice of Marketing, 7th edition.” McGraw Hill.
From last few years there are plenty of good companies telling their environmental stories to the world and even some who are not but should be. Some do it well; others do not know where to begin or how to go about it. There are a few tips on what to look for by a customer who does not get greenwashed.
...e, L. (2012). Sustainable marketing and social media. Journal of Advertising , 41 (4), 69-84.