Debate: Do you Think GREEN MARKETING is a Scam to Sell More Products?

Six Green Scams You Should Look Out for 

Nowadays, so many companies are claiming that they are “environmentally friendly”, but an “environmentally friendly” label isn’t necessarily insulation against bad business practices. Here are a few of the tactics green-themed marketers use to make themselves look “greener” than they really are:

1.  We give a portion of our proceeds to the cause. 
   This sounds good, but it can be a red flag. Unless the organization specifies exactly what percentage it’s donating (and whether it’s a percentage of profits or of gross sales), the amount could be minuscule. I Googled the phrase, and found that use of the vague language is widespread — and deliberately so. The lawyered text allows the companies to change the percentage at will. After all, one tenth of one percent is still a “portion.”
2.  Our product is “natural.” 
   As Sally Deneen writes in AOL’s WalletPop, there are at least six reasons why “natural” on a product label is totally meaningless. According to Deneen, “Natural is such an abused term that it should send your B.S. meter spinning….Nevertheless, it is the most common green claim used on cosmetics and kids’ products, according to a report called The Seven Sins of Greenwashing. Even worse, each new year brings a slew of new foods and drinks claiming to be ‘all natural.’” My t-shirt is “natural,” because its cotton, even though cotton has more pesticides sprayed on it than any other product. That juice is natural because it doesn’t have any added artificial chemicals, even though it’s full of sugar.
3.  It’s a hybrid! 
   Not all hybrid cars are created equal, and there’s nothing magical about the technology. Hybridize a big SUV and its mileage will improve, but it will still suck. Sure, the Toyota Prius gets 50 mpg and managed to extend its halo over the entire category, but it doesn’t really compute. The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, for instance, gets just 20 mpg city/21 mpg highway. The Lexus LS 600h, that big luxury hybrid clocks in at 20 mpg city/22 mpg highway. Many hybrids emphasize performance over economy, but they still wrap themselves in green. Fox says the BMW X6 Active Hybrid is the “quickest hybrid in the world,” but you’ll have to put up with 17 mpg in town and an undistinguished 19 on the highway.
4.  Our healthy ingredients mean its health food. 
   Wrong! Many products with smug “no sugar added” or “no artificial ingredients” labels are packed with calories and fat. A great case in point is upscale ice cream. The Brownie Special at Ben & Jerry is 1,020 calories. The Mud Pie Mojo at Cold Stone Creamery is 1,180 calories. The Mint Chip Dazzler at Haagen-Dazs is 1,270 calories (Nutrition facts). Then there’s frozen yogurt, which gets people thinking “its yogurt, so it has to be healthy.” As Nutrition Action points out, the FDA serving for frozen yogurt is a half cup, but most chains “typically serve up one cup or more.” That can mean 300 calories even from that small serving. “And some snackers are so proud of their ‘low-cal’ yogurt that they go heavy on the toppings,” the invaluable newsletter reports. “Unless it’s fresh fruit, don’t.”
5.  We make a green product, so we treat our workers better. 
   In truth, most products sold in the U.S. are made in factories in Asia, and it’s the truly rare company, environmentally friendly or not, that pays a lot of attention to the conditions for workers that far from home. Price is the deciding factor. American Apparel deserves some credit for making its clothes in downtown Los Angeles, but the company has a raft of other problems, apparently. According to the New York Times, even after 10 years of pressure from American multinationals, working at a Chinese factory is no picnic. “Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium and mercury,” the story said. Workers making the Apple iPad reportedly toil under such inhumane conditions that some leaped off the factory roof. This is an instance where “buy local” really does matter.
6.  It’s a green product, so you need it.
   A lot of environmental stuff doesn’t really work all that well: the cleaner (no harmful chemicals!) that doesn’t clean, the “recycled materials” oven mitt that burns your fingers. And a lot of it is just junk: Gadgets you can easily live without, from wind-up radios and solar hat fans to LED frisbees and solar phone battery chargers. Not buying something is sometimes the greenest choice.

                                          

 

Why Green Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility are not scams to sell more?

The green marketing and corporate social responsibility are really what the company wants to contribute to the society. In most of the time, it is just our customers over think it. The reasons why it is not scams to just sell more are because:

1. Marketing is all about how to improve the brand image, encourage people to know more about the company, its products. It is true that increasing sales is one of the goals for marketing. The fact is that no matter company is using green marketing or not, its marketing strategies are targeting more sales. Therefore, people cannot say that green marketing is just scams to sell more, because even the traditional marketing is also doing the same thing. It is the nature of business.
2.  Is the green marketing easy to do? No! Green marketing is actually more difficult to do and usually less effective than other marketing strategies. To market your products as “green” you may need to go through an expensive and lengthy process of getting environmental certifications. These certifications, which governments, industry associations, trade associations and consumer advocacy groups all distribute, require products to meet certain standards for energy use, efficiency or recyclability. Meeting these standards may be difficult, especially while keeping prices low. Therefore, it is not necessary for a company to do green marketing just want to sell more.
3.  Everyone is watching you! Green marketing is not a safe and cost effective way for a company to do. If your company’s marketing makes claims about its green products or an overall commitment to environmental sensitivity, it may open you up to enhanced scrutiny from consumers and environmental protection groups. Analysts may examine everything from how much energy your manufacturing processes use to where you acquire raw materials and how much packaging you use to ship your products to market. All of these actually making the green marketing sound not a good idea to do. Company does not need to use green marketing to sell more when the traditional marketing just worked fine.
4. Green marketing is more a way for the company to states that they do pay social responsibility to our society. Sometimes it is just simply because of the pressure coming from government and competitors.

Green marketing is more like tool to improve a company’s image which to say the company has the responsibility for the environment and consumers. The increasing sales are just the side output of the better image. It is not the primary of the green marketing.

 

Work Citations

Motavali J. (Sep 9, 2010). The daily green. Retrieved fromhttp://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/green-scams-460910)

Deneen S. (July 7, 2010). Daily Finance. Retrieved fromhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/blog/2010/07/07/hold-for-tony-g-6-reasons-why-natural-on-a-label-is-meaningle/

 The Seven Sins of Greenwashing (Apr. 2009). Environmental Claims in Consumer Markets. Retrieved fromhttp://sinsofgreenwashing.org/index3c24.pdf

EJF. (2007). The deadly chemicals in cotton. Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network UK: London, UK. ISBN No. 1-904523-10-2.

Gastelu G. (July 15, 2010). The Fox News. Retrieved fromhttp://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/07/09/bmw-x-activehybrid/

Barboza D. (Jan 5, 2008) The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&

Nayan Ranjan Sinha. Why Is Green Marketing Chosen By Most Marketers? (March 5, 2013) Retrieved fromhttp://blogs.siliconindia.com/nayan/WHY_IS_GREEN_MARKETING_CHOSEN_BY_MOST_MARKETERS-bid-uQo5nC9M60452203.html

Dennis Hartman. Advantages & Disadvantages of Green Marketing. (March 5, 2013) Retrieved fromhttp://www.ehow.com/info_7745654_advantages-disadvantages-green-marketing.html