Does a Green "Buzz" Translate into Green "Action"?

Does the green consumer walk their talk? It’s been growing for several years now, and picking up steam of late: the Green Buzz in the marketplace.

More and more businesses are aligning themselves with “green”, and idea that, for many, would never have occurred until relatively recently.

The focus of the latest issue of PC Magazine is, you guessed it, green computing.

But with green comes greenwashing.

A review of “green” computers in that same issue of PC gave one of its lowest green criteria ratings to the Everex gPC desktop – a machine that markets itself as particularly green – even when it particularly is not (according to PC magazine).

Greenwashing is, of course, inevitable. Unscrupulous marketers will attempt to exploit any and all angles in pursuit of profit – ill-gained or otherwise. In this brave new world of the interconnected, online, social networking, it may be just a little harder to claim green when it’s just a greenwash. EnviroMedia’s Greenwashing Index is a good example of grassroots watch-dogging of green marketing claims.

But it isn’t all on the business and marketing end either. Consumer demands drive the marketplace, and those demands are ultimately based on what the consumer actually does, not simply what they say they’re going to do.

So back to our original question: Is it all talk and no action?

According to research by the Natural Marketing Institute, as reported in Environmental Leader, the answer is no; action is increasing in step with general consumer awareness, at least to a degree.

Writing in his blog Marketing Green, David Wigder notes that most legitimate “green” marketing campaigns are, essentially, “preaching to the choir”, and are thus aimed at people already predisposed to “buying green” and perhaps paying a premium for it.

But there are shades of green, and here is where it can get a little confusing, even for professional marketers, something I am not. Joel Makower outlines the plethora of organization tracking and categorizing the range of green consumerism. From “Radical Engagement” or “True-Blue Greens” to “Pragmatic Acceptance” and “Apathetics”.

Radical engagement is easy for a green marketer and there is little point in spending marketing resources on apathy.

In the middle, however, behavior can be swung, if not attitudes. Wigder, in another article on Marketing Green, shows that marketing aimed at reinforcing a green idea can help “sprouts” or “greenback greens” – those in the middle – justify a decision to choose a green option over a less green one.

The gist of all this seems to me to be that there is still more talk than walk in green marketing and consumerism. But that is to be expected.

There are many entrenched forces that naturally resist change. Consumer inertia is certainly one of them, as well as the unfortunate tendency for a determined minority of marketers to engage in greenwashing, further muddying the picture for those willing to change their behavior and engage in an increasingly environmentally friendly lifestyle, while at the same time reinforcing the cynicism and apathy of those that reject the idea outright. Whoa, then to the Greenwasher!

Action speak louder than words, but words are important too. The buzz can, and does, lead to positive change.