Whether Green Marketing Is a Fad - Coursework Example

Whether Green Marketing is a fad Introduction Environmental degradation is a major threat to the survival of all living things in the world. It is seen as one of the major calamities that the world is faced with in the recent years. This is caused by many factors but the major factor is human activities, which have caused deterioration of the quality and quantity of the environmental resources. It is encouraging to see that people have recognized that they have played a role in this environmental degradation. This calls for a need for the consumers, government environmental agencies and other stakeholders to come up and take steps towards making sustainable development in conserving and renewal of our environment. The stakeholders in this initiative are supposed to play their roles. There should be collaboration among all the stakeholders in order to come up with a sustainable solution to this menace. Companies and industries can get involved in this initiative by use of green marketing. This is a process by which the companies sell products and other services in accordance to the benefits that they have to the environment. The companies engaged in this initiative to renew the environment should deal with products that do not have negative effects to the environment and packed in a way that is environment friendly (Andres et al 2008, 263). The objective of this paper is to look whether green marketing has become a fad today. In order to attain this objective, the paper will uses different steps. The first step the paper will look is the kind of appeals used in the advertisements in relation to this subject. The paper also looks t the reasons as to why consumers go for this and try to examine how the consumers get involved in this green products movement. At the end, the paper will look at usefulness and the implication of the trends to marketers. The kind of appeals used in advertisements Advertisements make the consumers form feelings and judgment when they get exposed to them. The consumers’ attitude is affected by the advertisements and contributes to their belief about the brand that is advertised. There are various factors that contribute to the formation of feelings to the customer in regard to certain advertisement. For example, how the advertisement is similar to other advertisements, the mood of the consumer, and the present environment. The feelings, which are conveyed by an advertisement, do not only affect the attitude of the consumer but also his or her evaluation of the brand being advertised. (D’Souza and Taghian 2005, 53-4) There are different appeals that can be used in an advertisement in regard to the environment. The best appeal, which can be used, is guilt. Marketers would like the consumers to feel some feelings of guiltiness if they continue behaving in a certain manner. This would make the consumers feel that they need to change their behaviors to prevent the consequences. For example, the advertisement in appendix 1 would make the consumers have a feeling of guiltiness. It shows destruction that can occur due to environmental destruction. This shows that if people do not stop cutting down trees then that would be the consequences of their actions. People and animals would perish just as the trees are being depleted. This is a kind of an advert that can make the consumers change their behavior as it has impacts in heir feelings that something disastrous will happen out of their behavior. Marketers can also use advertisements to instill fear to the consumers. For example, the message in the appendix shows that if our industries continuous to release their waste products to the rivers and other sources of water people would develop diseases. Reasons why consumers go for this trend Consumers tend to move towards these trends as the advertisements instill feelings of guiltiness or some times feel scared about the consequences of their behaviors. They feel that they do not want to be responsible for the consequences of their bad actions. They adapt to the trend out of the fear that is instilled to them by the advertisements. On the other hand, consumers go for this trend because they have the feeling that they should be responsible for the future. They find environmental conservation as one way that they can be able have a great future for the next generations (Neff 2009, 2). A study by Scott Company reveals that eighty six percent of the consumers stated that they had an interest in minimizing the impact of the environment by their products. Forty one percent of those surveyed revealed that they would like to use products, which had contents that would be recycled. This shows that many consumers would follow this trend because they need to feel better about themselves or may be because they do not want too feel guilty of their actions in environmental degradation. Others would follow this trend because they feel they need to be engaged in the community-based actions in conserving the environment. Consumer involvement In the past few years, people have been turning more and more to the use of green products. People have been more concerned on ecological issues than before. This has been contributed by the effects, which people have seen, and due to the concern, they have about the future generations. Industrialized nations have been blamed for their contribution to environmental degradations. This is because of the emissions that come from the industries in the countries, which has increased the pollution and global warming. The ecological concern has been shown due to the willingness in getting more knowledge about the environment and the change of behavior towards the environmental pollution issues (Ling-yee 1997, 33). Studies have shown that the consumers concerns about the environment usually changes overtime. As the concerns change, so do the level by which the customers accept certain types of products and packaging. The change of the customers’ attitude towards the products should be a factor that marketers should put into consideration. For example, Wal mart initiated an in store labeling program for environmentally friendly products and packaging. This initiative was based on the previous research, which focused on customer attitudes. However, as soon as the program was launched consumers had changed which made the company diminish the program priority (McDougall 1993, 70). According to a report from the NPD Group Inc, which is a market research company based in New York, more that a half of the consumers who were surveyed consider themselves as very interested with products which are environmental friendly. The study reveals that women showed more interest in the green products as compared to men (Report Surveys “Green” Consumers 2008). The product life cycle concept shows that environmental buying behavior is in the growing stage (Bhate and Lawler 1997, 459). By using the life cycle model, the environmental buying behavior is in the acceleration stage (Solomon 2009, 633). In the two categories, people can be distinguished as innovators and adapters. This is well illustrated in appendix 2. The commitment of environment takes two kinds of forms. There is the private use of the green products and the public participation in environmental conservation campaigns. EAKS model developed by Maloney, Ward and Braucht which consist of four subscales i.e. affection, knowledge, verbal commitment and actual commitment, have been used to measure environmental concern. Accordion to the model the level of ecological concern, which a person demonstrates, is a function of both his and her attitude and behavior. It is held that the higher a person cognitive affective and behavioral intention dimensions of ecological concern the higher the actual environmental commitment (Bhate and Lawler 1997, 461). Implication and the usefulness of this trend In the beginning, this trend had many implications for marketing strategy. In the early 1990’s co0mpanies acknowledged the importance of the movement but were hesitant to adopt the trend. According to Mc Dougall (1993, 69), the future marketing strategies were more likely to be successful if the had their basis on the thorough knowledge of the consumer, the competition in the market and the environmental issues. The movement created impact on businesses in the US and around the world too. The movement had been adopted by many companies, for example, coca-cola, Unilever and Procter and Gamble being the first adapters of this movement. This is the time in which business and countries were using the environmental regulations and recycling as a strategy of gaining economic advantage. For example, Germany created legislation 1993, which gave obligation for companies to take back their packaging and then recycle them. This was aimed at protecting the market. There has been many local car industries that have been trying to produce cars that can be recycled. If other manufactures would that trend, it means that local procedures in Germany would have a competitive advantage (Adrian and Dupre 1994, 35-6). This movement has gained more popularity whether for every day consumers or organizations. According to Sander (2009, 17) three out of four corporate executives stated that they had internal sustainability program in their respective companies. For example, Lee Scott from Wall-Mart stated that going green is great for the brand, good for acquisition of talents and green for the bottom line. Sustainability With the current trend of the world economy, there are a lot of doubts whether the consumer’s commitment to the green products will remain strong. According to the Boston Consulting Group, there was an increase in the number of consumers who bought green products in 2008 as compared to the previous year. According to the survey, the consumers were even more willing to spend more money to but these products if they would prove to be of more value. The customers showed that they value the benefits that the green products offer, for example, safety of their health, and saving the energy cost. Seventy three percent of the consumers believed that it is important for companies to have a good track record on environmental conservation issues. Sixty six percent of the consumers held that companies are supposed to offer green products (Acevedo 2009, 4). This gives the reason as to why marketers should put more focus on green products. This is because the movement of green products has enormous potential for growth in the future. The marketers should put into consideration combining environmental factors with economic sustainability. By combining some other issues such as employment, poverty and health care to the environmental ones would make the consumers purchase more products because consumers define sustainability in a broader way rather that the environment which most marketers have put more concentration. The marketers should also support their claims about the benefits of green products. This is because consumers change the behaviors towards a certain product especially if they realize that it is not bringing the benefit it is supposed to bring. Marketers should also realize that there are many opportunities, in the market. Sustainability consumers usually have above average purchase intent for personal care, so the green products should meet the standards of these consumers. The other issue that the marketers should consider is the quality and the price of the products. This is because previous research shows that many consumers allege that green products are more expensive while, at the same time, they do not perform as well as other products. Still according to the research, eight percent of the consumer’s belief that the claims by the marketers about the green products are genuine (Neff 2009, 2). Conclusion Therefore, it can be concluded that the green movement is not a fad but it is a real trend whether in environmentalism or green marketing. There has been great changes, in the in the past years in the global society where more companies and consumers are going green. The green product movement is seen as a great potential in reduction of the environmental degradation. This has been a focus to many governments as they try to reduce the effects of global warming. The involvement of consumers in this movement is of great importance in this project. Reference list Acevedo, J. Green is Good Business. BrandPackaging (2009). 13 (2): 4. http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb (retrieved on 17 May 2010.). Adrian, M. and Dupre, K. The Environmental Movement: A Status Report and Implications for Pricing. S.A.M Advanced Management Journal 59 (2): 1994. 35-40. http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb (retrieved on 17 May 2010.). Andres, E. F., Salinas, E and Vallejo, J. A Multidimensional Approach to the Influence of Environmental Marketing and Orientation on the Firm’s Organizational Performance. Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 88 (2): 263-86, http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb (retrieved on 17 May 2010.). Bhate, S. and Lawler, K. Environmentally friendly products: factors that influence their adoption. Technovation. (1997) 17(8):457-65 http://www.sciencedirect.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V8B-3SX0P9 (retrieved on 17 May 2010.). Charles, G. Get to grips with the carbon agenda. Environmental Marketing, September 30. 2009. http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb (retrieved on 17 May 2010.). D’Souza, C. and Taghian, M. Green advertising effects on attitude and choice of advertising themes. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics. 2005. (17): 3 http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb (retrieved on 17 May 2010.). Ling-yee, L. Effect of Collectivist Orientation and Ecological Attitude on Actual Environmental Commitment,1st edition, New York, Oxford university press, (1997). McDougall, G. H. G. 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APPENDICES: Appendix 1: Watch out it does not happen to your home Appendix 2: Decision Stage Adaptors Innovators Problem Recognition Passive/reactive Proactive Search Assiduous search with relevant product class Superficial search across class boundaries Evaluation Meticulous, rational, objective, using traditional criteria Quick, impulsive, based on novel criteria Decision Conservative: select within known category Radical: selects new category, then chooses a product within it Post-purchase Meticulous, tendency to brand loyalty Seeks further novel experience, less loyal Read More