Green marketing is the study of all efforts to consumer, produce, distribute, promote, package and reclaim products in a manner that is sensitive or responsive to ecological concerns. As consumers, we simply don't think about it on a day-to-day basis because the message does not surround us. Most of us did not grow up in a resource starved environment and so the implications of wastefulness have had no direct repercussions on our daily lives. We acknowledge the issue is out there and demonstrate concern for what is being done to improve our collective condition but beyond recycling or an interest in non-toxic HH cleaning products, we simply don't have access to green products or services, let alone do we have an understanding for how to evaluate their functionality or benefit- to us or the environment. In the present study narrows down on one specific area and that is to measure the awareness level of the customers with reference to the green marketing.
TopIntroduction
The term green marketing generally sends shivers down to our spine. Still very much in its nascent years, the term has developed enough baggage to seemingly constrain it to a niche audience. However, all macro trends start in a micro-fashion and green marketing has both a global scientific grounding and non-debatable symbolic characteristics finding it. That is to say that green marketing has a clear and substantive role in driving forward the dialogue and demand for sustainable products and services, which ultimately will influence real change in the marketplace with long term implications for our resource consumption and environmental preservation. Green Marketing refers to holistic marketing concept. It comprises the planning, development and promotion of products or services that satisfy the needs of consumers for quality, output, accessible prices and service, without however a negative effect on the environment, with regard to the use of raw material, the consumption of energy etc.
Prothero & Fitchett (2000) argue that greater ecological enlightenment can be secured through capitalism by using the characteristics of commodity culture to further progress environmental goal. Marketing not only has the potential to contribute to the establishment of more sustainable forms of society but, as a principle agent in the operation and proliferation of commodity discourse, also has a considerable responsibility to do so.
Karna, Hansen, & Juslin (2003) interpret that proactive marketers are the most genuine group in implementing environmental marketing voluntarily and seeking competitive advantage through environmental friendliness. The results also give evidence that green values, environmental marketing strategies, structures and functions are logically connected to each other as hypothesised according to the model of environmental marketing used to guide this study.
Sanjay K. Jain & Gurmeet Kaur (2004) in their study environmentalism have fast emerged as a worldwide phenomenon. Business firms too have risen to the occasion and have started responding to environmental challenges by practicing green marketing strategies. Green consumerism has played a catalytic role in ushering corporate environmentalism and making business firms green marketing oriented. Based on the data collected through a field survey, the paper makes an assessment of the extent of environmental awareness, attitudes and behavior prevalent among consumers in India.
Donaldson (2005) in his study realized in the Great Britain initially concluded that in general the ecological attitude of consumers changed positively. This study reported the strong faith of consumers in the known commercial brands and in the feeble behaviour referring to the “green” claims, which was the main cause behind the consuming failure to interpret their concerns beyond the environment in their behavior.
According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this term.
William J. Stanton (1986) manifests, ‘Green Marketing is any marketing activity of an institution that is intended to create a positive impact or to lessen the negative impact of a product on the environment in order to capitalize on consumer’s concerns about environmental issues. It encompasses everything from using recycled material in making a product to claim on advertising or on package labels.’
Thus, Green Marketing is the movement by companies to develop and market environmentally responsible products. Other similar terms used are Environmental Marketing, Ecological (Eco) Marketing, Eco-centric Marketing, Environmentally Responsible Marketing, and Responsible Marketing.
TopObjective Of The Study
The main objectives of the study are as following: