Is Green Marketing a Trend … or a Cycle?

Photo Credit: .m.e.c. (Flickr.com)

As I’ve moved out of my twenties and into my thirties, I’ve become a bit more socially conscious. One of the biggest areas I’m focused on right now is in the area of sustainability. I’ve realized that I’m wasting tons of electricity and water every day, that I’m generating mountains of trash, and that I’m helping to pollute the air of St. Louis by driving my car to work every day. (Climate skeptics, say what you will about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere having little to no effect on the environment, but all that car exhaust has a definite effect on the local air quality!)

As such, I’m probably a prime target for the various “green” marketing campaigns that have been going on over the last few years, and yet, I’ve noticed that many of the more environmentally-conscious products have all but vanished off of the shelves. It’s been suggested to me that “green” products always fall out of favor during a recession because people don’t want to pay extra for socially-conscious products. I think there’s some merit to the argument, but I’m also starting to wonder if “green” marketing has become a cycle that rears up every decade or so to bring some improvements to processes and open up new product categories.

Consider this: during the early 90s, a green wave hit the marketplace and products such as recycled paper were being pushed as the environmentally friendly alternative. I remember proudly buying some gray notebook paper that was 100% recycled. It was terrible paper — very hard to write on, and easy to tear. But darn it, I was doing my part, as a kid in school, to help reduce waste.

The demand for 100% recycled paper died down. But paper companies continued to use some recycled content in their paper and improve the process. Much of the notebook paper kids use for school today has some amount of recycled content in it, as does a lot of the cardboard used for packaging fast food. The green wave of the 1990s might have died down, but it did bring recycled materials to the forefront as a viable way to create products.

This “green” wave of the last decade has brought forward a new product that I’m still seeing — reusable grocery bags. Prior to the latest green trend, it was considered hippyish or “low rent” to reuse your bags. Most grocery stores had plastic bag recycling, but very few were pushing customers to use their own bags.

Grocery stores started rolling out reusable bags in 2008, and now, they’ve become a standard item. What’s interesting is that consumers have found these bags to be tremendously useful for a variety of applications outside of buying groceries. (My wife uses one of hers for library books.) They are also much easier to carry and use since they’re large, like a paper bag, but have handles, like a plastic bag. They’re a great marketplace innovation. Why didn’t someone think of this before?

The truth of the matter is that reusable bags have been out there for years, but they haven’t been produced at a low enough price that they’ve been attractive to consumers. When grocery stores embraced them during the last “green” wave and began offering them for a dollar a bag, consumers could see the value of having a few. When being socially conscious is cheap and easy, many people are willing to give it a try.

So, “green” marketing can be a good thing that brings about permanent change in the marketplace. But if that’s the case, why does it have to occur in cycles?

The problem with “green” marketing is that it plays on guilt rather than positive reinforcement. Oh, sure, the messages tend to be positive, but most of the time, there is  subtext of, “you’re not doing enough for the Earth, and you need to buy more expensive products to do your part.” Consumers are willing to spend a little more to ease their consciences as long as they care about an issue, but in the end, complacency is a lot easier than being broke.

Plus, the whole mentality of “buy more to do more” is at odds with many of the messages that environmental groups provide. Most environmentalists encourage consumers to reuse products as many times as possible before throwing them away, to consider purchases more carefully and to spend more time enjoying nature instead of man-made amusements. This leads to “green” products being less and less popular as consumers either fall away from an interest in environmentalism or embrace the message of buying less and reusing more. In either event, it’s very hard to build a long-term strategy around environmental messages.

So, is “green” marketing destined to remain a cyclical trend? It seems likely that it will. But don’t discount “green” marketing as being a bubble that bursts when the trend is up — rather, look at it as something that bubbles up, elevates the marketplace to a better standard, and leaves behind a few marketplace innovations that are better for everyone.

What are your thoughts on “green” marketing? Post them below!