In the past few years, the public has become more concerned with the sustainability of the products that they consume. Companies have responded to this concern by developing new “green” products to target the environmentally conscious market. However, many of these products have failed to capture a significant market share.

A study from the Mason School of Business in Virginia, suggests that marketing certain products as sustainable can in fact reduce their appeal to consumers. In this study, experimenters focused on two categories of products: products for which gentleness was favoured (baby shampoo, lotions, etc.) and products for which strength was favoured (detergent, car cleaner, etc.). They found that consumers preferred sustainable products when gentleness was favoured, but preferred non-sustainable products when strength was favoured. Consumers associated sustainable products with being gentler, but also weaker than their chemical counterparts. They termed this the sustainability liability. Non-sustainable products were considered harsher, but stronger and “able to get the job done”.

The findings of this study are important for determining how different brands should market themselves. Johnson and Johnson likely benefitted by marketing baby products as environmentally friendly, as consumers would consider them gentle and safe to use on their children. On the other hand, if an industrial detergent was marketed as environmentally friendly, consumers may believe that it is weaker than its chemical competitors.

Ethical marketing requires companies to make accurate claims about the benefits of their products and to stand by those claims. Coca-Cola has done none of this in marketing their Vitamin Water beverages.

Vitamin Water is marketed as a “active lifestyle hydrating beverage packed with vitamins and minerals”. The Vitamin Water website uses phrase like “recommended dose” and “medical ingredients” to suggest that it is some sort of health supplement. Some advertisements have even gone as far to suggest that drinking Vitamin Water can prevent the flu (below).

Despite all of these health claims, Vitamin Water contains 32.5g of refined sugar per bottle. They avoid admitting this directly on the bottle, stating that there are 13g of sugar per serving and 2.5 servings per bottle. While it is slightly less than a can of Coke (39g), 32.5g of refined sugar is still causes a large, unhealthy spike in blood sugar.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is currently suing Coca Cola for deceiving consumers into thinking their product was healthy. Despite all of their health oriented marketing, Coca Cola’s lawyers claim that “No consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitamin Water was a healthy beverage”. Clearly what Coca Cola is willing to say when advertising their products is very different from what they are willing to say in a legal environment.