Green Marketing And Sustainability Strategies

assuage any guilt they might feel about consuming mass quantities of unnecessary, disposable goods by dutifully tossing these items into their recycling bins and hauling them out to the curb each week”. (Westervelt, Amy. "Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2015). So why is the reason that companies are starting to “Go Green”? Its clearly obvious that the change in America from an industrial country to a environmental country has taught big business how to market environmentalism in mass quantities of their product. The strategy of the consumption-environment mindset are increasing rapidly. If this trend of buying without thinking does not slow down, with problems like not shifting priority from consumption to being environmentally aware, things will certainly worsen. On the topic of green marketing, people often see that green marketing refers to the advertising of objects or products with environmental characteristics to them (Like the Nestle bottle, for example). Terms like “Environmentally Friendly”, “Refillable”, and “Recyclable”, are some of the things people associate with green marketing. In reality

The purpose of this paper is to compare the sustainability practices of two companies in the same industry. The two companies chosen for comparison are The Hershey Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises, both of which are in the consumer staples industry. These two corporations are ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, on the Newsweek Top Green Companies in the U.S 2015. They have taken pride in creating sustainable product designs, having environmentally sustainable processes and supply chain management.

As we have seen an increase in awareness around sustainability and climate change, with the help of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth documentary in 2006, we see organizations moving towards mitigating the effects of climate change in various ways (Al Gore, n.d). As this corporate social responsibility has become more prevalent, organizations are now pushing their green agenda by publishing sustainability reports, doing mass marketing and implementing sustainable business practices to portray the image that they too are working towards protecting the earth’s natural environment all the while focusing on their underlying goal of selling their products and

In 1979, Henion first presented the definition of greeen marketing. He assumed that the programs and activities of green markeintg are foucing on the environment –friendly sectors, According to Chamorro and Bañegil, green marketing is the way to conceive exchange relationships that goes beyond consumers’ current needs while taking social interest in protecting the natural environment into consideration (Chamorro & Bañegil, 2006, p. 12). Likewise,

Accordingly, a store’s image is affected by store brands and loyalty to a store is increased by a store brands’ quality (Kremer & Viot, 2012). In addition, stores must maintain a positive store image in consumers’ minds in order to decrease the perceived risks of store brands (Delgado-Ballester, Hernandez-Espallardo, & Rodriguez-Orejuela, 2014). In order to increase image and loyalty among consumers and elevate the opinion of its store brands, Target could expand its offerings by adding a line of green products (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, p. 264). Florence Kremer and Catherine Viot determined, “when consumers notice that store brands are committed to respecting the environment or satisfying their needs, the retailer's image is improved” (Kremer & Viot, 2012). Green, natural, ecological, ethical, fairtrade, and organic sums up the growing trend in products such as household cleaners, personal care products, baby products and even pet products.

As a result, there has been a global need to avert this situation. Consumers have responded to this by being environmentally conscious in their purchasing decisions and buying environmentally-friendly products (Laroche, Bergeron & Barbaro-Forleo, 2001). They have increased their consumption of green products, which have in turn increased the focus on green marketing. Green marketing is the development of a marketing mix which caters to a specific target market who desire products/services which are environmentally friendly (Priebe, 2010).

Despite of buying power, more and more consumers take corporate social responsibility into account when purchasing. 66% of global respondents are willing to consume sustainable offerings, even the offering will costs them more. Among this 66%, over 58% are concerned whether the firm they consumed from is being eco-friendly, displayed in Appendix A (Nielsen Company, 2015).

On your weekly trip to the supermarket it’s easy to find a number of products, from coffee to dishwashing soap, that flaunt their green attributes” (American Psychological Association, 2010). With such rumors of greenwashing, consumers are more confused than ever. However, some consumers know the tricks and are coming to find that there are companies whose marketing practices are legit, not exaggerated or deceiving. APA also found that, “people are willing to spend more of their hard-earned green on green products, according to a 2008 survey of 9,000 adults performed by the global business firm Boston Consulting Group” (American Psychological Association, 2010). Consumers who are willing to pay more for a product or service are assuming that they are purchasing a healthier, safer, and better quality product or service for the environment.

However, it is true that many consumers will be unaware of the amount of products that are in the market that they can purchase. Thanks to green marketing, many of these products are now becoming successful. Overall, green marketing is a great help in contributing to the success of sustainable marketing and it betters society as a whole as it only advertises environmentally friendly products which gives consumers more interest to purchase these products instead of a less environmentally friendly alternative.

With advances in technology and production driven by consumer demand, the importance of environmental education and sustainability has become increasingly significant. This has led large corporations and smaller businesses to get involved with ethical branding and cause-related marketing, to encourage consumers to not only buy their product, but also give the impression that they are demonstrating their ethical values by doing so (Hawkins, 2014). The problem with this marketing approach is that consumers may fall under the impression that they are making a difference with their continued support of a certain product, while being blinded from the bigger picture.

One major problem as far as companies using green marketing and why it isn’t working is that the relatively vague definition of green marketing leaves a lot of room for loopholes. Green marketing, by simply being defined as “the marketing of products that are assumed to be environmentally safe,” allows companies to take advantage of this idea even if their products are not the best example of green ones (McClendon 1). Most companies also don’t practice what they preach in such

others (Larsen, 2010). With a significant amount of influence over other consumers, these LOHAS consumers may also be able to encourage other sustainability segments of customers including naturalites, drifters, conventionals and unconcerned to also be customers. Therefore, by incorporating sustainable packaging into their business, these companies are taking the appropriate steps to satisfy what is presumably a significant number of their customers.

Almost all the governing institutes and regimes around the world have concerned about green marketing activities that they have endeavored to regulate them. For example, in the United States (US) the Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of Attorneys-General have created broad records looking at green advertising. There has been little try to scholastically inspect ecological or green advertising. Be that as it may, to characterize green marketing is not a basic undertaking. The phrasing utilized as a part of this range has fluctuated, it incorporates: Green Marketing, Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing. While green advertising became a force to be reckoned with in the late 1980s and mid-1990s, it was initially talked about much before. The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first workshop on "Biological Marketing" in 1975. The procedures of this workshop brought about one of the first books on green advertising entitled "Ecological Marketing". Green marketing is defined as “Environmental or Green Marketing comprises of all exercises intended to create and encourage any trades proposed to fulfill

Because green marketing is the marketing of products that are considered environmentally and socially safe, therefore, the firm should be able to ensure the customers, suppliers, and stakeholders that every product range is sustainable, including the firm objectives, product modification, product process, packaging, advertising, as well as social and environmental value that returns to the society (Hudson, 2011).

Consumers participate in environmentally friendly activities because they have a desire to become role models in solving environmental problems. They also suppose that they have the authority to assist in the preservation of the environment. As much as consumers indicate positive attitudes towards issues of environment, their concerns do not necessarily lead to environmentally friendly purchasing behaviors. Most consumers do not make their purchase based on environmental concern alone. They are unwilling to trade off some product attributes for a secure and green environment.