It Isn’t Easy Being Green – for Corporate Advertising

A new study by the branding firm Landor Associates breaks down the percentage of the general population that care about the environment, using three categories:

1. Not Green Interested (58%) – Don’t care about environmentally friendly practices, such as organic ingredients
2. Green Interested (25%) - Concerned about the environment, but not active in its defense
3. Green Motivated (17%) – Consider it very important for a company to be green, and base purchase decisions on whether or not a brand reflects green behavior in its packaging, ingredients and corporate actions

What the study lacks, however, is context. Are these numbers growing in comparison to say five years ago? Certainly the organic food industry has risen dramatically in recent years to the point where Wal-Mart is now getting in on the action (See May 17^th post: Big Box Organic – You Are What You Eat).

An accompanying article on BrandWeek magazine’s web site frames the study in the context of an increase in green marketing – "It is easy to say you are green, but consumers are skeptical. And because everyone wants to jump on the green bandwagon, all of a sudden it is noisy in this space, and it is hard to break through."

Among the corporate marketing efforts in recent months trying to reach the 58% who don’t care and then some, according to BrandWeek, are Dow Chemical’s "Human Element" campaign, Shell Oil’s $30 million marketing campaign in June and General Electric’s continued "Ecomagination" effort.

What the study also does not take into account is the fact that the number of active people concerning any issue, whether progressive or conservative, tends to be small relative to the overall population. When I worked campaigned door-to-door on environmental issues I would ask the question “Are you interested in clean water?” Of course people said yes. The point being that just because someone in a survey says they are Not Green Interested doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in environmental issues. The phrasing of survey questions, which are not posted, goes a long way toward understanding responses as well.

Interestingly, even though respondents had trouble identifying what it means for a corporation to be green, and 2 out of 3 consumers couldn’t name a green brand, brands that simply supported environmental organizations or causes rather than incorporating green practices did not receive recognition as being "Green."

The article went on to say that “Branding experts consider green marketing to be especially tricky because the public seems poised to accuse disingenuous companies of ‘greenwashing,’” which means companies that claim to be green but in fact are not.

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