Green consciousness in India 39while Shah (2013) concludes that green consumers purchase only environmentally
safe products because of their concern for the environment. Ottmann suggests
that, to take advantage of this growing segment of the market, businesses should
balance environmental issues with primary customer needs and that all aspects of
marketing—including new product development and communications—should
be integrated with environmental considerations (Ottman 1998).
Michael Polonsky (1994) defines green marketing as consisting of all activities
designed to generate and facilitate the exchanges intended to satisfy human needs
or wants with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment.
Green marketing is related not only with the marketing of the green products or
environment friendly products, but it incorporates a broad range of activities
ranging from product modification, changes in the production process,
changes in packaging, as well as modifying advertising of the products or
removing any activity that impacts the natural environment in negative way.Peattie and Charter, on the other hand, define green marketing as the holistic
management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying
the needs of customers and society in a profitable and sustainable way (2003, p.
727). There is an inherent paradox in both these definitions in that environmental
concerns usually involve conservation, recycling, and re-use while marketing is
focused at stimulating and facilitating consumption. Green marketing has to adopt
an open-ended perspective, ascribing an intrinsic rather than instrumental value
to the environment and focusing on global rather than local concerns. To market
their products as truly “green”, businesses must adopt ethical and green practices
in production as well as with all stakeholders including employees, suppliers,
dealers, customers, and so on. They must manufacture eco-friendly products that
have minimal detrimental impact on the environment.
Lyn S. Amine quotes from Kermit the Frog’s song in “The Muppet Show” in
her article on green marketing: “It isn’t easy being green”, saying that business
writers normally use this line “in an ironic sense to underline the challenges
attendant upon supporting and implementing green business practices among
individual consumers and corporations alike” (2003, p. 373). An example is the
fact that, as stated above, green marketing is targeted at increasing consumption
(even if such consumption is of sustainable products). On the other hand, rampant
growth and consumerism are two of the main reasons for environmental crises.
Paradoxically, consumers who change to green consumption habits are more
influenced by the “green” quality of their purchases rather than the brand. Thus,
green marketing practices, in theory, provide opportunities for corporations to
meet consumer demands, concurrently address environmental issues, develop
a competitive advantage, and create a loyal consumer base (Renfro 2010).
Cause-related marketing, in particular, has evolved as one area wherein firms
can link their corporate social responsibility activities with strategic marketing
and charitable goals to gain competitive advantage and improve their long-term
business prospects (Agarwal and Tyagi 2010).