Green Marketing, Greenwashing and Bitter Eco Villains - What's A Corporation to Do? [1]
Submitted by John Stauber [2] on
Adweek has an interesting article [3] examining environmental corporate social responsibility [4] in light of the latest consumer survey data designed to help companies profit from green marketing [5]. They caution corporations to "realize they're swimming against a turbid current of anti-corporate sentiment. ... This is the backdrop against which greenwashing [6] has become a household word among eco-activists. And it threatens to become part of ordinary consumers' vocabulary as well. ... When you learn that a brand you use" is greenwashing, "it's like getting a holiday card that says a donation has been made in your name to a cause you dislike." On the other hand, a new TNS survey [7] finds what some might call a 'bitter' market segment who do "not respond well to green messaging [5]." These so-called Eco Villiains are "predominantly Midwestern, middle-income family-men in small to mid-sized metro areas. Eco Villains do not believe in global warming [8], disdain eco-conscious products and suspect that environmental media coverage is propaganda [9]."