In the last few years, corporations have talked a great deal about becoming more environmentally friendly—and their growing commitment to sustainability.
But consumers don’t believe them. And, apparently, with good reason.
According to the “Sense & Sustainability Study,” from public relations firm Gibbs & Soell, conducted by Harris Interactive, only 16% of US consumers think a majority of businesses are committed to “going green.”
A plurality of consumers (48%) do believe “some” businesses are committed to sustainability.
According to the Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism, a posting in the Americablog, authored by John Aravosis, which showed that photographs of the BP crisis center during the Gulf cleanup were altered in photoshop, generated the most comments and links in the blogosphere during the week of July 19-23, 2010.
The blog, and the amount of pickup it received, illustrates the growing role of the internet and social media as journalistic watchdogs. Green marketers—all marketers—should take note.
The second most-blogged-about item, a column in the Washington Post Magazine by Gene Weingarten, a satirical look at newspapers in the age of online news, also dealt with the changing face of journalism.
The ups and downs of the public’s interest in—and attitudes toward—BP and its handling of the Gulf oil spill can be traced in online activity.
According to blog and twitter tracking by Sysomos, which provides business intelligence for social media, after April 20, 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon platform first caught fire, to July 15, 2010, when the spill was finally capped, social media mentions of BP exploded.
According to NPD, total US personal care and beauty product sales exceeded $42 billion in 2007, and due to the economy, Euromonitor predicted that figure would decline $1 billion between 2007 and 2012, with sales slipping 0.4% on average per year.
Still, it is a huge market.
Kantar Media pegged US personal care advertising spending at over $5.5 billion in 2009.
Nevertheless, the vast health and beauty industry is now under attack.
Sarah Palin made “Drill, baby, drill!” a political rally cry. But the line lost much of its luster in the wake of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Now, SolarWorld, promoting its line of solar panels for homes and business and echoing Ms. Palin, has produced the best green TV ad since the “Crying Indian” anti-litter execution in 1971: “Shine, baby, shine.”
In a brilliant executional coup, the tagline is delivered by Larry Hagman, best know for his role as an oilman in the TV series, Dallas.
The Earthsense “2009 Eco-Insights Survey” found nearly three-fourths of green moms are either Gen Xers or Millennials; of course, those age groups also represent women in the prime of childbearing years.
As personal care products are often applied directly to the skin or hair, consumers put a high value on products not which do not contain harmful chemicals.
In fact, according to Kelkoo, European consumers are willing to pay a hefty premium—183.1%—on green health and beauty products.
The premium on personal care products is the highest of any category tracked by Kelkoo—and the only one to top 100%.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) and Big Room partnered to create ecolabelindex.com, an online database of eco-labels from around the globe to give consumers information of which labels are legitimate—and which are not.
Although the website is still in beta, it promises to be a powerful tool for consumers worldwide.
According to research from Tork, a SCA Tissue North America brand, conducted by Harris Interactive, green consumer products have become a mainstay in people’s lives.
Despite the recession, only 8% of consumers have decreased their spending on green products.
Consumers in developing countries are more eco-friendly in their attitudes—and more positive toward companies that sell green products.
Significant percentages of consumers in developed countries—such as Germany, the US, the UK and Australia—do not believe it is important to buy products or services from green companies.
In the weeks since the April 20th Deepwater Horizon explosion, while millions of gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, but stayed largely offshore, polls showed that a majority of US consumers continued to support offshore drilling (see The Spill: Politics, Polls and Public Opinion).
But Suzanne Shelton, CEO of the Shelton Group, predicted once images of “oil-covered dolphins and dead turtles and pelicans” started appearing in the media, attitudes would change. She was right.
A CBS News poll conducted May 20 to 24 found that by a slim margin more Americans now feel the risks of offshore drilling outweigh the positives, 46% to 45%.
The government works in a different time frame than most businessespeople.
The “Measuring the Green Economy” report, just issued by the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), contains the US government’s latest estimate of the size of the green market—it’s for 2007.
The ESA estimates that—at best—green products and services comprised only 2% of the private US business economy in 2007. Measured on a broad scale, that would put the total US green market for the year at $516 billion.
Numbers on the overall size of the green market opportunity are few and far between. That is why the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) analysis of consumer spending in the LOHAS (Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability) market comes as good news.
According to NMI’s latest findings, US consumers in 2008 spend $290 billion on goods and services that were “environmentally-friendly, socially responsible and/or healthy.”
