Green Consumers - Why Can't They Identify Green Companies?

A disturbing article was published by one of my favorite green business sites, GreenBiz.com, titled “Green Executives are from Mars, Consumers are from Venus” (March 29, 2010). The article reported that 64% of Americans polled are incapable of naming a single “green” company if not provided a list of possible answers. 64%! Yikes!

Could these low results be that only hard-line environmentalists who have some high expectations for what can be called “green” participated in the survey and skewed the findings? According to the article, a representative sampling of the general American population was selected. So rule that out.

Not so surprising was that most of the companies consumers in the survey actually could name were those that provided groceries, household products, and automobiles. Two other key product categories, apparel and technology, were surprisingly absent from their minds.

So why is this?

I was not surprised at all that the scant few companies consumers could name were for Wal-Mart (number one answer, even though that would not be my immediate answer), food, cleaning products, and car companies. Watch television for any length of time and you’ll see that some household cleaner will be advertised as being safe for your home or the environment. I would say that the ads for cleaning products are more prevalent than for food items. Plus, every car ad seems to tout the miles per gallon performance rating of their vehicle at the least. At the most, they’re showing how earth friendly either the company or the car is.

Thorne Communications offers imprinted EDUN LIVE T-shirts. Click image to request quote.

I am also not surprised that apparel or technology companies were not identified at all. From my experience in the promotional products arena, where apparel is a key segment of the industry, there are very few companies that are completely committed to greener products or manufacturing. Only two of them are widely identifiable in both wholesale and retail trade: American Apparel, that offers organics and sweatshop-free American made items, and EDUN Live, the for-profit T-shirt company launched by U2′s Bono and wife, Ali Hewson, that offers organic items made in Africa under fair labor policies and with a commitment to building communities. Beyond those two, the field is a myriad of smaller, lesser known organizations, or specialty market divisions within larger ones, that provide greener promotional wear… none of which are rolling off the tongues of the American public. The apparel industry is in dire need of reinventing itself for both ecofriendly and fair trade initiatives on every level, from supply chain to public relations.

There is also another problem I see in the design of this survey, although I doubt that it would have changed the results much. How do consumers identify a “green” company or product in their minds? Is it a company that uses alternative energy or have a reputation for decreasing their carbon footprint? Are the products recyclable, biodegradable, non-toxic, or made from sustainable materials? Is the product made in a fair trade environment? Did the consumers that were surveyed just not know what the survey takers meant by “green?”

A good point in the article is that companies have difficulty telling their green story. I believe this is very true! Many companies have barely made any ecofriendly initiatives, especially in a challenging economic climate. As well, I think many fear that if they don’t get their green story right, they will be scolded for greenwashing.

Consumers will not learn about your earth and socially conscious efforts by ESP. Start telling your green story!

(My thanks to Christine Esposito at Terracom Public Relations for pointing out this article to me.)

Share and Enjoy: