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July 04 2008

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Companies Try to Cash in on Green Trend, But Should Consumers Buy It?

Corporate America has discovered that going green is the way to sell products these days. Sales of organic products have gone from $10 billion in 2003 to more than $16 billion in 2006. Products advertised as being sustainable or healthy accounted for more than $200 billion in U.S. sales in 2005.

But as legions of marketers make “green” pitches ranging from earnest to ridiculous, customers are growing warier.

Environmentalists welcome genuine corporate efforts to make products more benign, but there’s a fine line between real environmental efforts and "greenwashing." Last year, a Philadelphia marketing firm called TerraChoice investigated more than 1,000 products claiming to have some environmental benefit. All but one of them committed one of what the company dubbed the "Six Sins of Greenwashing", such as hidden problems or vague claims.


Sources:

  Seattle Times June 28, 2008




 
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Comment on This Article Community Comments (24)
 
 
Posted On Jul 04, 2008
Ok here's a few ways to be really "green" and save a lot of money:
1.  Soapnuts, make liquid from them and you can use if for anything from shampoo to toilet bowl cleaner.
2.  Use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning and clearing sluggish drains.
3.  Dr. Bronner's soap: again, amazingly versatile and goes a very long way.
I have virtually eliminated store bought cleaning supplies, laundry products etc and am mostly satisfied with the results.  I use ECover in my dishwasher.  Does anyone know a good substitute for dishwashers?

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Posted On Jul 04, 2008
Our solution was to take the dishwasher out and was our dishes by hand. As a bonus we also increased our kitchen cupboard space.

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Posted On Jul 04, 2008
Yes, and you save electricity and I *think* water too!

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Posted On Jul 07, 2008
Nice suggestions Patty...Regarding the dishwasher try to save up and do a complete load everytime, you'll be saving on water, electricity and most of all your time. When you check how much water you use to do each piece by hand, you use a whole lot more comparing to doing them in the dishwasher..... The trick is do a FULL LOAD everytime, we just save them up and maybe once, or twice a week and then let her run, also the big stuff like pots and pans we do by hand so we save space for the smaller dishes, like plates, saucers, glasses, knives forks etc...

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Posted On Jul 07, 2008
One of the most misrepresented 'green' practices is recycling. Do you know where your e-waste goes?

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text

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Posted On Jul 03, 2008
As the saying goes, its "Buyer beware".

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Posted On Jul 06, 2008
If a company is truly being environmentally responsible, they would not need to waste advertising dollars on proclaiming that fact. You do something because its the right thing to do, not so you can brag about it.

Be aware, educate ourselves, and refuse to accept products that will not list all the ingredients.

If we want to go a step further and learn about the various manufacturing processes,  we can make even more informed decisions. The onus rests on us, the consumer, to know the products and services we are buying. Ask questions.

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Posted On Jul 06, 2008
Not so, Magnolia. Sales & marketing is the core function of every business competing in a marketplace (assuming enough freedom). The world's best mousetrap will not automatically become a bestseller; in fact, an inferior product with superior sales/marketing will beat it just about every time. You are right about caveat emptor, tho.... 

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Stoic, you said “in fact, an inferior product with superior sales/marketing will beat it just about every time.” I’d like to qualify your statement a little if I may, by excluding consumable items.
It is not marketing that contributes to the success of my tiny, independent business, but repeat customers.
My big shiny competitors, despite their central location, giant store, many employees and national advertising campaign, offer inferior product and service. The interesting part is that our net incomes are about the same.

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Well, BeeGirl, define "consumable"...I only ask for the definition because, what isn't (consumeable)? Time - how long it takes to consume is the only variable. I sell a service + associated products. It is a discretionary consumable. We rely on repeat customers, too - but we had to sell them in the first place (marketing); & we continue to sell them (retain them), everyday, with our service standards. And what about attrition? It is ever present & it is marketing that compensates. "Nothing happens until something gets sold"... that is why top sales people make more money than anybody else - it is the core function, everything else supports that function.

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Stoic, I mean products that consumers buy recurrently, items which get used up or discarded.
I don’t seek out customers;  new ones show up on their own after exhausting every other possible resource, including the internet -  which they love to tell me, repeatedly, I might add. (I am considering changing my name to ‘Last Resort’, lol)  And honestly, I don’t want everyone to come here first - being last really weeds out the time-wasters and leaves me with the ones who mean business.
Funny thing about attrition - as one customer goes out of business another always arrives to take their place, and eventually ....     ends up here.

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
BeeGirl -

When you decided to go into business, what did you do to generate customers? Even if only that very first one? After that, even if you relied 100% on referral, marketing is still fueling your sales. WOM (word of mouth), customers as sales force, can be a terrific sales tool.

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Ah but Stoic, I was questioning the effects of marketing on the sales of inferior products. I guess I need to ask your definition of ‘superior’.
I sell quality product without promoting my business other than a phone book listing, a sign on the building, and a customer base built of desperation and WOM.
My competitor sells inferior product and runs national TV and newspaper ads, even sponsoring a major sports figure.
The net results are similar.
I don’t think you’d find too many proponents of my methods. (do you have an ad exec? I can just imagine the expression of haw-rah, as a friend of mine from Rhode Island pronounces it, on their face, lol)

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
No, no ad exec BeeGirl. Just lots of experience (practical & theoretical/academic).

I would have to question the assertion that the competitor you describe, a relative Goliath to your David, has a similar net - not to mention how you would even know this (unless the competitor is publicly owned...).

Of course, David did what he did...exceptions do serve to prove the rule (& I did say, "just about every time")...

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Stoic, much as I'd like to credit my spooky intuition, my knowledge comes from the owner himself, who gave me the opportunity to purchase his 'big successful' business - plus the industry's averages are published on a regular basis. But I am probably unique in my lack of overhead.

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
OK BeeGirl. But I really would have preferred more evidence of spooky intuition (you could'a lied), lol.

Part of the trouble discussing superior/inferior is the mistake of  excluding the price dimension. When $ is no object, superiority will be a given  - but we tend to discuss superority as if the 1-2 standard deviations each side of the mean did not constitute the bulk of the market, for everything, & for whom $ is an object. (Also, even those 3 sd's to the right still buy "cheetos" & "pepsi", etc, right? Are those superior products?)

People are highly suggestible. They lead with emotions & intellect brings up the rear -  a veneer of respectability.  As much as  Freud & psychoanalysis  has been relegated to "nice try, but we have moved on", a LOT of his stuff was made very useful & profitable (to Madison Ave), by his  nephew, Edward Bernays. And top sales people always had a 'spooky intuitive' feel for this stuff, even before it was quantified....

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Stoic, I don’t want to beat this to death (if it’s not already too late :)  - suffice it to say that though generally people are price-motivated, surprisingly the better-made product often costs the same or sometimes even considerably less - there are many levels of quality, plus several other factors including both the choice of supplier and the freedom to adjust the mark-up, which my competitor does not have.
I’m familiar with Edward Bernays work, and you‘re certainly right about people’s suggestibility;  bigger is always better and cheaper than small and efficient, right? Not many figure it out, fortunately I only need a few  (and if I said Taurus, would that qualify as spooky?)

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
Either spooky, or I was being transparent again, BeeGirl . Or you're a spy (Betty Davis eyes?) Yes, I am Taurus.

So, does your handle have anything to do with your product line/business? And do you pronounce the gender part in that slow, Southern style...?

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Posted On Jul 10, 2008
Stoic, I don't mind telling you that I was laughing at myself this morning as it suddenly struck me that in the end all I did was back you up yesterday. Too, too funny! Oh well, next time.
“Bee” is for “B”, no relation to my occupation, though I’d rather deal with bees. I just thought BeeGirl had much nicer connotations than B-Girl.
Is “B” for Bette? Perhaps the ‘evidence’ was just deductive reasoning based on your seeming affinity for poking,  lol

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Posted On Jul 10, 2008
BeeGirl, I guess those tasseled crochet booties on the tips are insufficient disguise. But blood is rarely drawn anymore & the china remains mostly intact, lol.

Perhaps,,,one just never knows with Pisces...(but it is never dull).

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Posted On Jul 09, 2008
The product I have questions about is recycled toilet paper. (oh, the imagery!)

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