Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Social marketing
: programmes and campaigns raising public awareness in order
to introduce more sustainable action, such as energy or water-conservation, waste
reduction, reducing car use, and promoting sensible driving.
In order to successfully promote sustainable products, services and lifestyles,
organizations will need to carefully associate green selling points with traditionally
orientated purchasing criteria, such as overall economic benefit, social status and
environmental safety; embrace corporate responsibility goals that enhance product
responsibility (no more gas-guzzling SUVs); and, most important, strengthen their
credibility and green credentials to avoid successful accusations of greenwashing.
Many corporations have used their marketing and PR departments to manage
reputations following public criticism, and many media and environmental critiques
which have highlighted expensive-looking PR, advertising and marketing campaigns
as being deliberately deceptive (Beder, 1997). Indeed, some companies have invested
disproportionate amounts of their advertising budgets on promoting relatively modest
green initiatives. BP, for example, developed its new Helios logo to convey its
commitment to going 'beyond petroleum', with its growing interests in solar energy,
even though BP's investments in oil and gas were actually increasing. It spent
$7 million developing its new green brand image while planning to spend a further
$200 million on rebranding its facilities between 2000 and 2002, and $400 million
on advertising petrol and its new logo. BP continues to explore for oil in environ-
mentally sensitive areas such as the Atlantic Frontier, the foothills of the Andes and
Alaska (Beder, 2002). As Chief Executive John Browne was reported by the BBC
as saying, 'It's all about increasing sales, increasing margins and reducing costs at
the retail sites' (BBC News, 2000). Some advertisers have inflated the green credentials
of their clients. In December 2006 the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the
UK ruled that a national newspaper advertisement gave a misleading impression
regarding the 'low emissions' of the Golf GT TSI. In June 2007 the ASA upheld a
complaint against a television commercial for misleading information exaggerating
the environmental benefits of the Toyota Prius. A number of brands, particularly in
the travel sector, seem to be making green claims without being able to substantiate
them, prompting the Committee of Advertising Practice to prepare additional
environmental guidelines. In such a context, the United Nations Environment
Programme's concern to develop and disseminate approaches to marketing and
advertising that effectively and properly promote sustainable development is truly
to the point. Part of this project involved producing an educational 'toolkit' to be
used by businesses, marketing professionals and sustainability practitioners to learn
more about sustainability and promote sustainable lifestyles and responsible business
practice. This toolkit (UNEP, 2007) suggests that the most important determinants
of effective communications from a marketing and social perspective include:
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Sincerity and transparency
: the organization needs to be legitimate, relevant and
authentic in its commitments to sustainability, rather than simply instrumental.
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Consistency
: business practice needs to match the public image and communica-
tions; it needs to be proactive and anticipatory rather than reactive to sustainability
issues. Sustainability has to pervade the whole organization.
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Analysis
: Knowledge of the target audiences' perceptions and behaviours needs
to be understood.
