Being surrounded by advertisements that sell ‘green’ or ‘organic’, everyone seems to be raging about eco-friendly products. Target’s commercial last week on using a Recyclable bag reminded consumers to do the right thing. By bringing up the guilt in consumers, the concept of green marketing to improve sales is becoming a trend. The requirement for brands to engage in green marketing is to fully support environmental impacts. Once green marketing is used to attract consumers, the brand image is now seen has a responsible brand by the public. Long term investment on this approach is what brands need to be committed to in order to continually attract consumers. If promotions were done improperly, and media finds out about other aspects of the brand that is not as eco-friendly as it seems to be, backfiring effects can harm the image greatly. However, green marketing often cause consumer confusion. The meaning of green is different for every product, and comparatively the degree of being ‘green’ is often ambiguous. Even if it gains consumer’s interest and education on going ‘green’, the market needs certification on all green products to ensure a clear understanding of how ‘green’ the product is compared to similar products.
Currently, I don’t see monitor programs or organizations that define the certification process for all green products in the market. This is an industry that can guarantee the positive global impact from the small lifestyle changes we make. Green marketing is a great start for businessmen to bring attention on sustainability to consumers, but monitoring is the real answer to the problem. By measuring benefits of going green, it is the true success to comply consumer’s desire to take action on social concerns for our environment.