Month: March 2012

I chose “Turning Over A New Leaf” as both my blog and blog post title simply because after taking this course, I expect to be able to have at least changed a part of me. And to be honest, it did. I have always been on the “green” side of things, but I think this course has further developed my knowledge on sustainability and how it can be integrated into marketing. In all honesty, I think marketing is one of the key things businesses should work on because it’s the best way for them to connect with their customers and spread their “sustainable message.”

Sustainable Marketing has helped me discover a number of different green ideas that are arising in the business world already. I didn’t know that many entrepreneurs have developed all these ingenious ideas already that could contribute to reducing corporations’ overall carbon footprint. I am also thankful that this course has deepened my knowledge on sustainability more and how it can be seen and applied everyday, even in the simplest of things. I am more conscious of my behaviour, especially when I consume water, food, energy, and anything of the sort. Simple things like walking instead of driving or turning off the lights when they’re not needed help.

I know that it’s still a long way to go and I may not have created a huge positive change in the environment (like other environmentalists), but I know that initiating a change within you can slowly affect your surroundings and hopefully, even other people’s behaviour. In the near future, I hope that I will be able to work for a company that heavily values corporate social responsibility in their business operations or better yet, be a part of innovative entrepreneurs who can develop the next most sustainable product or service that would benefit everyone.

As for businesses, I applaud many companies that are working towards being as green as they can and as mentioned, heavily emphasizing on corporate social responsibility. It was through this course that I was able to discover a number of different sustainable companies and other big companies who have changed many of their ways to ride on the green wagon (i.e. Nike, Walmart, etc.). I am truly impressed with the many initiatives they have started and the vision and goals they have placed for their company in order to follow the triple bottom line. This is why I would love to work for companies like these, who stick to their vision of being green, and being as transparent and genuine as they can. In short, they are not doing this just to show off or commit any form of greenwashing, but it’s because they truly care. This may seem impossible at times or it may be hard to tell, but the fact that these companies are investing so much money to change up their operations says something.

Hopefully, sustainability will continue to grow in the future and evolve into something more permanent than just a “trend.”

I’ve been working for McDonald’s as a part time employee for almost two years and as much as I enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, it bothers me that McDonald’s day to day operations are not close to sustainable at all. I constantly see food wasted and any supplies we used to serve our customers (may it be cups, straws, ketchup packs, etc.) all go to waste for the smallest reasons. To be honest, they can still be used again for other customers, but I guess McDonald’s follows a strong food safety policy and offering their customers the best customer service is also key.

During one of my working shifts, I remember asking my manager if we had recycling bins and she simply told me that we didn’t have any because McDonald’s DOESN’T CARE and isn’t “green” at all. This struck me because I expected this massive fast food chain to be involved in any form of corporate social responsibility. I guess I was wrong to think that and it me sound ridiculous to my manager. I was disappointed with McDonald’s that preserving our environment wasn’t in their top priorities, especially with the fact that one of their biggest target markets is children. It may appear that they are such a fun-loving company, but they try to hide the fact that they are quite harmful to the environment.

However, to my surprise, when I came into work, I suddenly see a number of different trash bins inside our workplace. McDonald’s finally learned how to segregate, reduce, and recycle their trash. It made me happy to see that McDonald’s is slowly working its ways towards being a steward to our environment and practicing good product considerations for sustainability. Recently, I also read an online article that talks about McDonald’s piloting the replacement of their polystyrene foam cups (used for coffee/tea). They plan to replace these cups with double-walled fiber cups instead.

Polystyrene is not widely recycled and has become harmful to the marine environment. Polystyrene breaks down into small indigestible pellets, which animals perceive as food, resulting in the death of birds and marine mammals. The production of styrene, used in the production of polystyrene, also carries occupational safety risks. Several epidemiologic studies suggest an association between occupational styrene exposure and an increased risk of leukemia and lymphoma.

With the harmful effects of polystyrene mentioned, I do hope that McDonald’s will push to changing their foam cups in all of their stores. According to the article, they have only implemented the change to about 15% of their US stores. McDonald’s is now a global company and has hundreds of franchises in many countries. This would be very costly to McDonald’s and it will definitely be a challenge, but I do hope that they consider the long term effects of this change in their foam cups. The benefits would probably outweigh the costs in many aspects. Again, I salute McDonald’s for starting to be more sustainable in their business operations, but I hope they push forward even more with this movement of becoming a greener company.

During our last class, we had a guest speaker named, Tamara Brooks from October 17 Media. She mentioned in one of her slides about another group buying website called ethicalDeal. Based on its name, you can tell that it’s quite different from the other group buying websites like Groupon and Living Social. They have addressed the problem of customers’ hesitations of purchasing green products because of their high prices. The companies that they partner with are local (depends on which city you’re from). They offer eco-friendly products/services, ensure they meet ethicalDeal’s standards, and then use the collective buying power of their members to get exclusive discounts on the best “green stuff” each city has to offer.

I found ethicalDeal very amusing because they practice sustainable marketing communications. Their method of promoting their deals and getting the word out is through e-mail marketing, which doesn’t require any use of paper. They also communicate in their deals on how the products they are offering are eco-friendly. For example, a body care product was described as 100% natural and organic and that it’s from BC, which means that it is local and doesn’t have to deal with transportation costs (both in terms of money and to the environment).

I also read one post in one of the student blogs that he rarely buys organic products even if he wants to just because of their high prices. With us being students, we are usually on a budget. The cheaper the product, the better for us. That’s why I think ethicalDeal is doing a good job with this sustainable group buying website. They are able to attract a wider range of customers, especially with the growing trend of more sustainable customers in the community. This will definitely attract price sensitive customers, like students, who want to take part in being more sustainable, but never really could due to their high prices. However, I’ve observed that ethicalDeal doesn’t offer a lot of deals yet daily, compared to Groupon and the rest. This could be because ethicalDeal is one of the new group buying companies and it’s still adjusting and trying to capture as much customers as they can and also creating awareness among their customers as well. I do hope that this group buying site will catch on among its customers in order for other local and eco-friendly companies will sign a contract with ethicalDeal. This would be a win-win situation for both sides and they earn and money at the same time help in promoting sustainability.

An example of one of ethicalDeal’s green deals:

I recently saw a FedEx commercial that talks briefly about the different ways FedEx is currently doing in order to work towards sustainability. This short commercial shows a random company boss who is well-inspired by FedEx’s sustainable ways that it plans to adapt these ways into their daily business operations as well. As mentioned in the commercial, the boss plans to start small by printing double-sided instead of one-sided for any company documents.

I found this commercial quite appealing because it was presented in such a simple manner. It was straightforward and informative too as it tells you some specific ways FedEx is doing in trying to reduce its carbon footprint. Also, with the random company boss involved in the commercial, it makes me think that this commercial is giving off a rational appeal to the viewers. It is implicitly saying that since FedEx is doing this, the right thing to do would be to follow their sustainable ways as well, as portrayed by the random company boss. Not only that, FedEx also mentions about “Sustainable Solutions” and provides a link to the website at the end of the commercial. This quickly brought me to action as it got my interest on finding out what other things is FedEx doing to become more sustainable. After my readings, I’ve discovered that they are doing practical things that are in sync with their main business operation. They do simple and practical things such as reducing the amount of paper used by doing online documents instead of paper. They also offer local pickups or deliveries to reduce carbon gas emissions and you can even choose to print on a certain type of paper that is made from more sustainable materials.

Of course, skepticism among consumers is inevitable with these kinds of actions. Many companies are integrating sustainable business operations into their company simply because it will make them look better to society and it is one of the biggest trends at the moment. I’m not saying that I think FedEx is green washing or anything, but I actually think they’re off to a great start. They don’t make magnanimous claims on how they are the most sustainable company or anything of that sort, but they are mainly focusing on how they are helping the environment by developing a number of sustainable solutions. Their commercial is quite humbling in the sense that they don’t brag about their greatness in developing these sustainable solutions, but instead, it tries to convince you that you should do the same thing. You should take action and change your ways, before making any claims. This would be best if you would want to avoid being accused for green washing as well. But other than that, I suggest that viewers should always double check to be sure. They can do this by looking at the company’s statistics on the change or difference in carbon emissions (if there’s a reduction) after adapting to these sustainable solutions and other things like that.

These days, third party eco-labels can be often seen in various products. According to our textbook, there are currently around 300 eco-labels. The question is, what do these eco-labels really mean? Can we really trust them and are they assuring enough to make us feel that the product is safe and eco-friendly? A man named Kevin Owsley, who owns a company that produces carpet-cleaning fluid, recently tried to find a reputable organization that can grant his company an “eco-seal” of approval. He was able to find one, but this organization instantly granted him a “green diploma”, no questions asked. This got Kevin quite confused and he debated if endorsing this “eco-seal” on his cleaning fluid would mean anything to his customers. I consider this as one of the problems eco-labels have. Most customers don’t really know what these eco-labels mean. Just as long as they see that stamp of approval, they immediately assume it is a “good” product. At the same time, companies might be confusing customers by making them believe that their product is actually an eco-friendly product through that stamp of approval, but in reality, it’s just a method for them to show off to their customers that they are sustainable (but actually not). In other words — green washing. Despite all this, I was browsing through Whole Foods’ company blog and they’ve come up with a new eco-label, which I think serves as a good example of a legitimate and believable eco-label.

Whole Foods is widely known for their high quality and organic products and their strong commitment to corporate social responsibility. These company values highly differentiates them from any other grocery chain and this makes them highly believable up to this moment as they meet the standards they have promised to their customers. Recently, they have developed a new standard/eco-label called, “Premium Body Care.” It astonishes me that they are aiming to provide not only organic and natural food products, but they have branched out to their body care products as well. This shows their commitment to providing the best quality of all products to their customers and how they genuinely care for their well-being as well. Whole Foods’ product line called 365 Everyday Value already have this eco-label and can also be bought at affordable prices, despite their high quality (See image below).

I’ve also read the Whole Foods website and it says that company experts spent years examining ingredients according to the strictest criteria for safety, efficacy and impact on the environment. They are continuing to do this for all ingredients as they have found more than 420 ingredients that do not meet their standards.

If you look closely as to what the image says above, it compares conventional body product standards and Whole Foods’ premium body care product standards and you can evidently see a significant difference. For Whole Foods’ body care products, they don’t only function well, but even offer nutritional benefits. They also contribute to a positive impact to the environment, which again highlights one of their company values. Having read the standards they have set for the “Premium Body Care” eco-label, I am convinced that this is not a questionable label. Also, Whole Foods put enough effort to inform their customers through their company website about this label and what it really means to have this seal.