According to data a Green Gauge survey by GfK, as marketers and business are willing to spend more on “greening” products and ads consumers are found to be less willing to spend more on sustainable products. This is in direct contrast with the fact that 93% of people are said to have actively changed their behaviour in favour of conserving energy.
Specifically, consumers are slated to have dropped 5% – 12% in their willingness to pay more for things like:
- eco-friendly cars
- biodegradable packaging
- energy efficient light bulbs
- energy from renewable resources
- clothing made from recycled/organic materials
The article states that the main cause of this drop is due to marketers being overzealous in their claims of products being green and healthy for consumers. This could have caused distrust towards marketers and consumers becoming more hypocritical .
However, I believe that while this is a major trend, one also has to take into account the state of the economy at the time the survey was taken. In 2012, while the US economy was recovering slightly, it was still not in a very good place financially speaking and many families were struggling. In addition, many consumers are still in the early phase of sustainability that requires cost savings and eco-friendliness to be in tandem for them to consider switching. For example, some people would only be willing to switch to sustainable energy if it was cheaper than other “dirty” alternatives like coal.
http://adage.com/article/news/marketers-green-fewer-consumers-pay/237377/
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