GREEN MARKETING

"Our definition of the green sensibility is quite broad: anything involving body, mind, and spirit that improves the quality of life for the individual or the planet. Today, nearly all Americans do something that may be included in the green canon, creating many new opportunities for a green marketing approach."
Targeting The Trendsetting Consumer (179)

At first glance green marketing seems like a sensible idea; more recycling, less packaging and a more active role in personal health and well being. But the question still remains, if this country is really serious about stopping its ecological damage or reversing the effects of damage done in the past, is purchasing green the best way to tackle these problems? Or the bigger question, why is business suddenly so concerned about the environment?

This new environmental sensitivity by businesses is due to the recognition that the damage they have done to the environment is too great to be further ignored. Because of this potentially serious public relations problem, businesses needed to create a new myth as to how, why, and most importantly, who is responsible for the shape the planet is in today. They created an alternative advertising model that would focus attention away from how products are produced to how they are consumed and what kind of an individual would best consume them. By this method, debate as to the possible causes of environmental destruction are totally avoided and industry is allowed to jump from the past argument of not recognizing a problem to the present argument of having all of the answers as to how the planet should be saved.

Green marketing diverts the debate from the direct causes of our ecological destruction. One of those motives is production driven solely by profit rather than weighing the consumer's need for a product against the pollution that will be created in order to bring the product to market. It turns the destruction of the planet by excessive, wasteful consumption into a problem that can only be solved through shrewd consumption. Do natural resources really need to be wasted in the manufacturing of endangered species trading cards or board games? Is this the kind of eco-awareness that is needed?

Green marketing distorts reality by emphasizing the small things you can do like recycling or joining an aerobics class. This is in no way saying that recycling is bad, or taking care of yourself isn't wise, but it still works at the periphery of the problem. It in no way challenges the larger powers who are directly responsible for the ecological damage through their control of our labor and resources. Green marketing doesn't give the option of non-participation in our economic system. The twisted logic of green marketing is that in order to change a flawed system you must keep participating in it. Slowly as you learn to make more eco-savvy purchases the system will change.

Another problem with green marketing is that it co-opts the energy and momentum of environmental groups who have fought the fundamental causes of environmental destruction. These groups have organized boycotts against products and businesses forcing companies to change their policies and take a cut in revenue. Green marketers try to compromise valid boycotts of products by creating a new eco-friendly image. This strategy doesn't hurt the company's revenue and allows them to decide when, if ever, to change their ways and stop damaging the environment.

The new trend in green marketing has some distinct flaws. It diverts attention from the real causes of environmental destruction by placing the responsibility on the consumer instead of the producer. It is counterproductive to the efforts of environmental groups by compromising their boycotts into "eco-friendly" products. So green marketing may come disguised as the way to save the planet, but it is nothing more than the latest spin to sell more products.

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