Green marketing, also known as eco-marketing or environmental marketing, refers to marketing of products considered environmentally friendly.
The product may either contain fewer harmful substances and be beneficial in itself, or it may have been produced with less environmental impact. These products could also come in earth-friendly packaging.
There are many things to consider under green marketing, such as packaging, the production process, and even advertising. Many supporters of green marketing see it as a holistic undertaking that includes almost all processes involved in the production and marketing of a product.
One of the challenges faced by green marketing is customer perception. Some customers think that green products are more expensive or don’t work as well as regular products. Also, there is a lot that consumers do not understand about what makes a product environmentally friendly.
As such, not all consumers can distinguish between real and false claims regarding the environmental friendliness of a product. When businesses make exaggerated claims about the environmental-friendliness of their products, they are said to be “greenwashing.” Without proper monitoring, it would be easy for companies to highlight certain qualities of their products which may seem green, without really clarifying that other processes or components involved in producing the product could be causing more harm than good.
Green marketing has become more popular in the advent of corporate social responsibility. There has been a rising interest of the concept of sustainable development, which is seen as progress that still ensures the fulfillment of the needs of future generations. There is more pressure on companies to try and find a way to integrate green marketing into their businesses, especially with the increase in climate change awareness and upcoming carbon taxes.
