Definition:

According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of

products that are presumed to be environmentally safe.[1] Thus green marketing
incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the
production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining
green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect and contradict each
other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social, environmental and retail
definitions attached to this term.[1] Other similar terms used are Environmental
Marketing and Ecological Marketing.

The legal implications of marketing claims call for caution. Misleading or overstated
claims can lead to regulatory or civil challenges. In the USA, the Federal Trade
Commission provides some guidance on environmental marketing claims.[2]

A green market in the Lower East Side Green Market, New York City.[3]

The term Green Marketing came into prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[4]
The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first workshop on "Ecological
Marketing" in 1975.[5] The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books
on green marketing entitled "Ecological Marketing".[6]

The first wave of Green Marketing occurred in the 1980s. Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) Reports started with the ice cream seller Ben & Jerry's where the
financial report was supplemented by a greater view on the company's environmental
impact. In 1987 a document prepared by the World Commission on Environment and
Development defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need”, this
became known as the Brundtland Report and was another step towards widespread
thinking on sustainability in everyday activity. Two tangible milestones for wave 1 of
green marketing came in the form of published books, both of which were called Green
Marketing. They were by Ken Peattie (1992) in the United Kingdom and by Jacquelyn
Ottman (1993) in the United States of America.[citation needed]

According to Jacquelyn Ottman, (author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for

Innovation) from an organizational standpoint, environmental considerations should be
integrated into all aspects of marketing — new product development and
communications and all points in between.[7] The holistic nature of green also suggests
that besides suppliers and retailers new stakeholders be enlisted, including educators,
members of the community, regulators, and NGOs. Environmental issues should be
balanced with primary customer needs.[citation needed]
The green market at Union Square (14th street), New York City

The past decade has shown that harnessing consumer power to effect positive
environmental change is far easier said than done. The so-called "green consumer"
movements in the U.S. and other countries have struggled to reach critical mass and to
remain in the forefront of shoppers' minds.[8] While public opinion polls taken since the
late 1980s have shown consistently that a significant percentage of consumers in the U.S.
and elsewhere profess a strong willingness to favor environmentally conscious products
and companies, consumers' efforts to do so in real life have remained sketchy at best.[1]
One of green marketing's challenges is the lack of standards or public consensus about
what constitutes "green," according to Joel Makower, a writer on green marketing.[citation
needed]
In essence, there is no definition of "how good is good enough" when it comes to a
product or company making green marketing claims. This lack of consensus—by
consumers, marketers, activists, regulators, and influential people—has slowed the
growth of green products, says Makower, because companies are often reluctant to
promote their green attributes, and consumers are often skeptical about claims.[citation needed]

Despite these challenges, green marketing has continued to gain adherents, particularly in
light of growing global concern about climate change. This concern has led more
companies to advertise their commitment to reduce their climate impacts, and the effect
this is having on their products and services[9][10].

Greenhouse gas reduction market

A green market in Newcastle, July 2007

The emerging greenhouse gas reduction market can potentially catalyze projects with
important local environmental, economic, and quality-of-life benefits. The Kyoto
Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), for example, enables trading between
industrial and developing nations, providing a framework that can result in capital flows
to environmentally beneficial development activities. Although the United States is not
participating in the Kyoto Protocol, several US programs enable similar transactions on a
voluntary and regulatory basis.[1]

While international trade in greenhouse gas[11] reductions holds substantial promise as a

source of new funding for sustainable development, this market can be largely
inaccessible to many smaller-scale projects, remote communities, and least developed
localities. To facilitate participation and broaden the benefits, several barriers must be
overcome, including: a lack of market awareness among stakeholders and prospective
participants; specialized, somewhat complicated participation rules; and the need for
simplified participation mechanisms for small projects, without which transaction costs
can overwhelm the financial benefits of participation. If the barriers are adequately
addressed, greenhouse gas trading can play an important role supporting activities that
benefit people’s lives and the environment.[1]

[edit] Popularity and effectiveness

[edit] Ongoing debate

The popularity of such marketing approach and its effectiveness is hotly debated.
Supporters claim that environmental appeals are actually growing in number–the Energy
Star label, for example, now appears on 11,000 different companies'[12] models in 38
product categories, from washing machines and light bulbs to skyscrapers and homes.
The difference is, however, that green—rightfully so—is on the wane as the primary
sales pitch for products. On the other hand, Roper’s Green Gauge shows that a high
percentage of consumers (42%)[13] feel that environmental products don’t work as well as
conventional ones. This is an unfortunate legacy from the 1970s when shower heads
sputtered and natural detergents left clothes dingy. Given the choice, all but the greenest
of customers will reach for synthetic detergents over the premium-priced, proverbial
"Happy Planet" any day, including Earth Day. New reports, however show a growing
trend towards green products.[14]

[edit] Confusion

One challenge green marketers -- old and new -- are likely to face as green products and
messages become more common is confusion in the marketplace. "Consumers do not
really understand a lot about these issues, and there's a lot of confusion out there," says
Jacquelyn Ottman(founder of J. Ottman Consulting and author of "Green Marketing:
Opportunity for Innovation.")[14] Marketers sometimes take advantage of this confusion,
and purposely make false or exaggerated "green" claims. Critics refer to this practice as
"green washing".[citation needed]
A very good example of Green Washing can be found in the claims about Bamboo
Fibres.It is equaoted and sounds similar to Cotton fibre/Organic cotton fibres . In the case
of bamboo it is pulped and mixed with caustics and other 5 different chemicals and yarn
is made out of this certainly not similar to Organic cotton. Similarly Csurina ,uclyptus
and other trees even vegitalbes used in pulp ping and yarn making this is not organic
bamboo firbre in the sense the Organic cotton is used . This is punishable offence on the
part of traders and others .Ignorance of masses of this technical knowledge is well known
. The marketters create confusion taking advantage of this lack of knowledge of masses.
Another example is Eco-friendly dyed garments and Low-impact dyed garments is sheer
green wash . 50 years ago all Denim cotton jeans were organic and all Indigo dye was
natural plant-extracted. Now 100% of the Denim Jeans pants in U.S. is opposite to this.
U.S. Market as well others do not do anything about re production on Natural Indigo or
Organic cotton .It is only green washing . People are mislead in Organic Era with the the
above names. 25 years of market research was done by me.

[edit] Statistics

According to market researcher Mintel, about 12% of the U.S. population can be
identified as True Greens, consumers who seek out and regularly buy so-called green
products. Another 68%[14][15] can be classified as Light Greens, consumers who buy green
sometimes. "What chief marketing officers are always looking for is touch points with
consumers, and this is just a big, big, big touch point that's not being served," says Mintel
Research Director David Lockwood. "All the corporate executives that we talk to are
extremely convinced that being able to make some sort of strong case about the
environment is going to work down to their bottom line."[14]

[edit] Green marketing cases

[edit] Philips Light's "Marathon"

Philips Light's CFL

Philips Lighting's first shot at marketing a standalone compact fluorescent light (CFL)
bulb was Earth Light, at $15 each versus 75 cents for incandescent bulbs.[16] The product
had difficulty climbing out of its deep green niche.[16] The company re-launched the
product as "Marathon," underscoring its new "super long life" positioning and promise of
saving $26 in energy costs over its five-year lifetime.[17] Finally, with the U.S. EPA's
Energy Star label to add credibility as well as new sensitivity to rising utility costs and
electricity shortages, sales climbed 12 percent in an otherwise flat market.[17]

[edit] Car sharing services

Car-sharing services address the longer-term solutions to consumer needs for better fuel
savings and fewer traffic tie-ups and parking nightmares, to complement the
environmental benefit of more open space and reduction of greenhouse gases.[citation needed]
They may be thought of as a "time-sharing" system for cars. Consumers who drive less
than 7,500 miles a year and do not need a car for work can save thousands of dollars
annually by joining one of the many services springing up, including ZipCar (East
Coast), Flex Car (Washington State),[18] and Hour Car (Twin Cities).[19]

[edit] Electronics sector

The consumer electronics sector provides room for using green marketing to attract new
customers. One example of this is HP's promise to cut its global energy use 20 percent by
the year 2010.[20] To accomplish this reduction below 2005 levels, The Hewlett-Packard
Company announced plans to deliver energy-efficient products and services and institute
energy-efficient operating practices in its facilities worldwide.

[edit] Introduction of CNG in Delhi

New Delhi, capital of India, was being polluted at a very fast pace until Supreme Court of
India forced a change to alternative fuels. In 2002, a directive was issued to completely
adopt CNG in all public transport systems to curb pollution.[21]
What is green marketing?

Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on
their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally
friendly in it or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.

The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a
product or service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision
accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers
will be willing to pay more for green products than they would for a less-green
comparable alternative product - an assumption that, in my opinion, has not been
proven conclusively.

While green marketing is growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers are

willing to back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be
dangerous. The public tends to be skeptical of green claims to begin with and
companies can seriously damage their brands and their sales if a green claim is
discovered to be false or contradicted by a company's other products or practices.
Presenting a product or service as green when it's not is called green washing.

Green marketing can be a very powerful marketing strategy though when it's done
right.

3 Keys to Successful Green Marketing

For green marketing to be effective, you have to do three things; be genuine,

educate your customers, and give them the opportunity to participate.

1) Being genuine means that

a) that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing
campaign and
b) that the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing
that's environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for your
business to establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green
marketing campaign to succeed.

2) Educating your customers isn't just a matter of letting people know you're
doing whatever you're doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting
them know why it matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market,
it's a case of "So what?" and your green marketing campaign goes nowhere.

3) Giving your customers an opportunity to participate means personalizing

the benefits of your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the
customer take part in positive environmental action.
Let's put the three essential elements of a successful green marketing campaign
together by looking at an example.

Suppose that you have decided that your business will no longer use plastic bags to
wrap customer purchases. You know that the traditional plastic bag takes about one
thousand years to decompose (cbc.ca) and want to do your part to stop the
proliferation of plastic bags in landfills. You feel that this is the kind of environmental
action that will be popular with potential customers and a good opportunity to do
some green marketing.

To be genuine, you have to ensure that none of your business practices contradict
your decision not to use plastic bags. What if customers who happen to walk behind
your store see an overflowing trash bin filled with paper, cardboard and plastic
bottles? Obviously, he or she will decide that you don't care as much about recycling
as you say you do in your green marketing.

Not using plastic bags appears to be environmental no-brainer, but you will still need
to educate your target market. Did you know that a single use plastic bag takes
about one thousand years to decompose? I didn’t until I researched this article and
probably a fair number of otherwise environmentally conscious people don't either.
This one little factoid about plastic bags could be used as part of your green
marketing campaign - all by itself it lets the public know why single use plastic bags
are environmentally disastrous and that you and your business care about the
environment.

And the third element? By shopping at your store, the customer is taking action to
protect the environment by preventing at least one single use plastic bag from going
into a landfill. It doesn't sound like much, but he or she gets the satisfaction of
physically doing something that fulfills their beliefs. You can also reinforce your
customers’ green decisions and increase their participation by offering them
additional related actions, such as buying cloth bags to use for future purchases.

Sometimes the best thing to do with a bandwagon is jump on it. You have to walk
the talk and actually implement green policies and act in environmentally friendly
ways for green marketing to work, but if you do, you've got a powerful selling point
with those who are environmentally conscious and want to act to make the world a
greener place - a market that's growing exponentially right now.
 Total Recall: Toyota and the Future of
Green Marketing
What does Toyota's travails mean to green marketing?

That question seems ripe these days, as the leading Japanese auto maker gets
a comeuppance for its allegedly serious safety defects — and the more than 8
million cars it has recalled worldwide as a result. Toyota, after all, had become
a darling of the eco-minded, a case study in the green halo that can inure to
old-line companies that bring environmental innovation to mainstream
audiences. Toyota seemed to have done it the right way: with products that
weren't just greener, but better — in this case, high-aesthetic, high-
performance, affordable cars.

In some regards, Toyota's Prius gas-electric hybrid represented the green

consumer ideal: no tradeoffs — a product that pushed all the right buttons. It
came from a trusted brand, didn't require consumers to change habits,
performed well, looked great, and provided an environmental benefit. It made
a public statement about the owner's green cred. It offered consumers, as I've
dubbed it, "Change without changing." There haven't been many other
consumer products from major brands, save for a handful of household
cleaners, that have fired on all those cylinders.

But now that ideal has experienced a crash-course in reality, a collision of

technological snafus and a corporate culture that shunned transparency for
expediency — and may have committed criminal neglect. The result, as
everyone knows, is a massive global regulatory undertaking, media-fanned
anxiety on the part of Toyota vehicle owners — and more than a little
handwringing on the part of environmentalists, who aren't sure what to think of
a company that had come to be seen as a corporate hero.
One evidence of that hero status comes from the Green Confidence Index co-
produced by my team at GreenBiz.com. Every month we ask 2,500 Americans —
a demographically representative sampling of the adult online population — a
simple but profound question: "What company, if any, do you think of as being
'green'?" It's an unaided question, meaning that no list of companies is provided.
Respondents simply name companies that are top of mind. For the past six
months, Toyota has remained among the top 8 companies named. (Walmart
and Clorox have consistently been the top two, while 64% of Americans aren't
able to name any company they consider to be green — a story for another
day.)

It will be interesting to see how the troubles will tarnish Toyota's green sheen,
especially since the company's recalls have been so widely and persistently
reported; this isn't some scandal limited to the blogosphere or the green world.
The Green Confidence Index will be following this closely over the coming
months.

So, what does the recall mean to the world of green? There are several
potential scenarios:

1. The recalls will severely damage Toyota's credibility, making room for
other car companies to emerge as green leaders, especially as a new wave of
hybrids, diesels, and electric vehicles rolls out over the next 18 months:
Nissan's Leaf, GM's Chevy Volt, Ford's Focus, Volkswagen's Touareg, higher-end
cars from BMW, Porsche, and Infinity — in addition to cars, vans, electric bikes,
and other alt-fueled vehicles made by countless smaller firms, from Aptera to
Zap. Plus, the high-profile (and high-priced) Tesla Roadster and Fisker Karma. In
an era in which nearly everyone has one or more green vehicles to promote,
the Prius may take a back seat.

2. Toyota's brand leadership and reputation for quality and environmental

leadership will survive intact. So indelible is its reputation, the scenario goes,
and so loyal are its customers — especially diehard Prius owners — that the
public will see Toyota through. This scenario, of course, hinges in large part on
whether and how the company digs itself out of its reputational hole in the
coming weeks: how it executes on its recalls, how it survives upcoming U.S.
congressional hearings (and their counterparts in other countries), and what
evidence of corporate malfeasance arises. It also depends on things outside of
the company's control. For example, every serious accident involving a Toyota
vehicle could become fodder for local (or national) news media to burnish a
Toyota-as-death-trap reputation that could take years to undo.

3. Toyota's plight will be a setback for green products in general and green
vehicles in particular. The Prius — the darling of environmentally minded
consumers — has now been tarnished as unsafe, thanks to its occasional loss of
braking. (So, too, have the upscale Lexus hybrid and the Toyota Sai compact,
another hybrid sold only in Japan.) For skeptics, climate deniers, and green
grumps of all stripes, this "proves" that green marketing is a scam, simply
another means to separate consumers from their wallets. When all is said and
done, the Prius will have mowed down a host of promising products with
environmental attributes — and not just cars. At minimum, it will give solace to
those who already had been looking for reasons not to purchase fuel-efficient
cars, energy-efficient appliances, organic foods, and other greener goods.

4. The Prius recall will prove that greener cars are just like any other, in
that they come from real companies with real problems. As such, it will help to
socialize the new crop of green vehicles, and maybe other green products,
helping people to see them as part of the "regular" marketplace. This will
reduce the negative stigma some people hold against green products. And
while Toyota's products may take a while to regain favor, their woes won't
impede other companies' success.

Which of these scenarios pans out is anyone's guess. And it's not a zero-sum
game. Toyota could win this battle (Scenario 2) while green products lose the
war (Scenario 3). It will be interesting to watch — another speed bump in the
long and winding road toward the mainstreaming of green.