Combine Environmental with Economic Sustainability

In his Green Inc. blog last April in The New York Times, James Kanter cited recent research that underscores rising consumer skepticism about green advertising. The Havas Media survey of more than 2,000 consumers found that nearly two out of three (64%) people are tuning out marketing messages because they are viewed “as little more than opportunism on the part of big business.”

Nevertheless, consumers continued to show strong interest in buying goods and services from responsible sources. “It is not a case of consumers being fickle, but rather a case of businesses being perceived as unauthentic,” reports Havas.

In a speech before the IPREX Worldwide Conference in New York City, on May 14, Michael Lee, Executive Director of the International Advertising Association, described how broadening the issue can help to create more receptive stakeholders.

“Consumers define sustainability more broadly than marketers and they care more about social and economic issues such as poverty, employment and health care more than environmental concerns by a substantial margin,” he said, describing a new approach to communicating sustainability developed by shopper-marketing agency Saatchi & Saatchi X.

Green marketing may be tired but “blue marketing” — which encompasses environmental with other social, cultural and economic concerns — will work better.

Technorati Tags: Green Inc, The New York Times, James Kanter, Havas Media, green advertising, Saatchi & Saatchi X, blue marketing, Michael Lee, International Advertising Association, IPREX, Makovsky + Company, communications, public relations