At the Sustainable Brands conference in Monterery, California in early June the efforts of brands were displaying their efforts to incorporate environmental and social aspects into their marketing. Clorox has created an entirely new line of products, GreenWorks, to attract consumers. Sun Chips has expanded its healthy product positioning and adopted environmental initiatives – solar power at manufacturing plants and 100% compostable packaging to expand consumers’ perceptions that purchasing Sun Chips has a positive impact.
Clorox and Sun Chips have done some very effective marketing around these products, with little backlash or accusations around greenwashing. Yet despite these successful examples, many companies are hesitant to promote environmental and social attributes of their brand. And when brands do consider going down this path, they often focus on third party certification despite the fact that the certifiers all have a different methodology.
We are in a period in time where consumers are feeling lousy about the economy, are looking for glimmers of hope that companies will act responsibly, and want to feel like they are making a contribution to society when they do make a purchase. So why are companies so hesitant to market to consumers products that have real positive social and environmental attributes?