[Karl]

Marketing of 'green' loses some buzz and credibility

The International Herald Tribune, July 7, 2008

Over the past year, marketers around the world have jumped onto the green bandwagon. But the sheer volume of environmental advertising and the flimsiness of the claims in some of the campaigns show signs of generating an unintended effect. Instead of serving as a call to action or casting brands in a positive light, these ads are generating an increasingly skeptical response.

''After 18 months, levels of concern on any issue tend to drop off,'' said Jonathan Banks, business insight director at Nielsen, the market research company, in Britain. ''I fear that something similar may happen with this.'' With everyone - from oil companies to dishwasher makers to banks - promoting environmental credentials, consumers have been deluged in green-linked advertising and consumer complaints have risen.
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Agencies are also trying to work their way around consumer skepticism as they devise strategies for clients. Mike Lawrence, executive vice president of corporate responsibility at Cone, a brand strategy agency in Boston, said some consumer concerns may stem from the way in which many green-themed ads are done, rather than any objection to associating brands with an environmental message. "There's a gap between what the marketers are doing and what consumers are receiving," he said. "The marketers may not realize the gap is there, and that's a dangerous thing".

The problem, he said, occurs when marketers make exaggerated claims about a product's attributes, which may be fine when selling toothpaste or vacations. Most people probably know that the toothpaste won't actually make their teeth sparkle or help them get the girl, but they play along with the joke. But when an advertiser says its product will actually ''improve the environment,'' or some variation on that theme, savvy consumers recoil, Lawrence said, knowing that, in all likelihood, what is actually meant is that the product is only less bad for the environment than it could be, or than competing goods. ''This can really backfire with environmental advertising,'' Lawrence said.

Read Full Article: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)