Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick?
Running head: MARKETING GIMMICK 1
Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick?
Ong Shi Meng
MARKETING GIMMICK 2
Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick?
“Marketing” has a lexical definition, which is “theory and practice of commercial selling”, whereas the persuasive definition is “the activities of promoting products or services in order to gain profits or other advantages by changing consumers’ attitudes towards a brand”. Green marketing is somewhat similar, but it is the activities of promoting products or services that are presumed to be eco-friendly. There are many perspectives on green marketing, for example, it is just a marketing strategy of a corporate and it is mainly targeting on consumers who are concern of environmental issues.
To put it simply, a business is utilizing green marketing tactics when their marketing message is targeting the eco-conscious members of the target market, for example, a Web hosting provider markets itself as environmentally friendly to prospective customers by touting the fact that their facilities is run by wind or solar power. Another example would be in food marketing, where you’ll find products marketed as organic or pushing the fact that it’s from local farmers (meaning less preservatives and less waste in transporting the food). Essentially, the marketing campaign revolves to some degree around appealing to a consumer base trying to be more environmentally friendly.
While my overall outlook on green marketing is a positive one, because of its consumer-driven and often altruistic to at least a degree, I do think there’s a flip-side where certain green marketing techniques are simply gimmicks. First, there’s green-washing, the false claims about environmental issues to raise concerns with the public, convincing them there’s a problem that may not even exist, and then pushing your product as a solution. In
Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick?
Ong Shi Meng
MARKETING GIMMICK 2
Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick?
“Marketing” has a lexical definition, which is “theory and practice of commercial selling”, whereas the persuasive definition is “the activities of promoting products or services in order to gain profits or other advantages by changing consumers’ attitudes towards a brand”. Green marketing is somewhat similar, but it is the activities of promoting products or services that are presumed to be eco-friendly. There are many perspectives on green marketing, for example, it is just a marketing strategy of a corporate and it is mainly targeting on consumers who are concern of environmental issues.
To put it simply, a business is utilizing green marketing tactics when their marketing message is targeting the eco-conscious members of the target market, for example, a Web hosting provider markets itself as environmentally friendly to prospective customers by touting the fact that their facilities is run by wind or solar power. Another example would be in food marketing, where you’ll find products marketed as organic or pushing the fact that it’s from local farmers (meaning less preservatives and less waste in transporting the food). Essentially, the marketing campaign revolves to some degree around appealing to a consumer base trying to be more environmentally friendly.
While my overall outlook on green marketing is a positive one, because of its consumer-driven and often altruistic to at least a degree, I do think there’s a flip-side where certain green marketing techniques are simply gimmicks. First, there’s green-washing, the false claims about environmental issues to raise concerns with the public, convincing them there’s a problem that may not even exist, and then pushing your product as a solution. In
References: McGraw-Hill. (2012). Think. New York: NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.