CSR and Green Marketing
Green Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility
This essay examines green marketing and corporate social responsibility practices. In particular, the paper examines the practice of greenwashing, and discusses companies' willingness to exploit green marketing for competitive advantage. The essay also reviews the legitimate use of green marketing as a means of promoting responsible environmental stewardship.
Green marketing involves the promotion of products that are marketed as being environmentally safe or beneficial. The practice had its beginnings in Europe in the early 1980s when certain products were found to be harmful to the earth's atmosphere. As a result, new types of products were created, called green products, which were less damaging to the environment. The green product movement grew quickly in the United States and has continued growing steadily ever since (Green Marketing, 2011).
Also known as sustainable marketing, environmental marketing, and ecological marketing, green marketing consists of activities intended to take advantage of changes in consumer attitudes. More and more often, such changes are influenced by a company's policies or practices that impact the environment or show concern for the community. As a result of the breadth of opportunities, green marketing is applied to multiple product life-cycle stages. The development of ecologically safer products, biodegradable and recyclable packaging, energy-efficient operations, and better pollution controls are all aspects of product development subject to green marketing. For companies that look at all phases of their product life-cycle, the practice of green marketing introduces improvements to the entire process of the company's products, including processing, packaging and distribution methods (Ibid).
Green marketing may be an expression of a business' commitment to corporate social responsibility, or it may be little more than a marketing ploy. Eco-innovation and green marketing can lead to top line sales, differentiation, and improved brand equity. Green marketing is based on the assumption that potential consumers will view a product or service's greenness as a benefit, and base their buying decision accordingly. Along with the rise of green consumers, there is also an increase in ecolabeling, green advertising, and environmental reporting. This trend in turn creates an opportunity for just about anything to be marketed as green, from simple packaging changes to products and services that radically reduce materials and waste. (Montague, 2009).
Environmentally responsible marketing takes into consideration consumer concerns about promoting, preserving, and conserving the natural environment. Green marketing campaigns in turn highlight the characteristics of a company's products and services that provide superior environmental protection. Benefits of superior protection can be reduced waste in packaging, increased energy efficiency in the use of the product, or decreased emissions of toxins or pollutants during production. The Encyclopedia of the Environment notes that marketers are responding to growing consumer demand for eco- friendly products in the following ways:
By promoting the environmental attributes of their products
By introducing new products
By redesigning existing products
Marketing campaigns that highlight the ethical and environmental superiority of products have grown in recent years (Green Marketing, 2011).
While some businesses engage in green marketing only to enable their ability to make a profit, others operate in an environmentally sensitive manner because they feel responsible for preserving the integrity of the natural environment at the same time that they satisfy consumer needs and desires. True green marketing then practices environmental stewardship (Ibid).
Several factors account for businesses incorporating an environmental ethic into their operations. The single biggest factor is growing public understanding of the environmental degradation resulting from population growth and global natural resource consumption over the last 50 years. The issue is especially concerning in America, which is responsible for consuming one quarter of the world's resources while having only a small fraction of the world's population. Growing public sensitivity to environmental issues has been accompanied by a corresponding change of many American consumers' buying decisions (Ibid).
Businesses took note of the growth in green consumerism and developed new marketing campaigns to appeal to the new environmentally sensitive consumer. Those companies having product lines created in an environmentally friendly manner, such as using recycled products or emitting comparatively low pollutant levels, changed their marketing message to highlight their efforts and appeal to those customers who are most likely to appreciate their efforts (Ibid).
Many consumers are aware that companies make self-serving, even inaccurate green claims, and studies show that these consumers are more likely to view these claims with skepticism. Because of green consumer distrust, a company's reputation is becoming increasingly important for green consumers. Companies that engage in green marketing while at the same time engaging in practices that harm the environment are unlikely to gain a significant share of...
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