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.