Green consciousness in India 47
PR Wire, 2008), while at the same time increasing the sale of its branded
household products (Agarwal, 2013). Similarly, the resolution of these
contradictory notions (conspicuous versus moral consumption) is evident
in the DKAP campaign where the double meaning of purity (as a brand
qualifier and a description of philanthropic actions) attracts consumers from
the “aspirational” category who wish to purchase brand-name products and
simultaneously improve society. The ability of CRM to bridge this apparent
divide in consumer culture is perhaps what makes it most appealing to for-
profit, non-profit and consumer actors in the Indian context
(Hawkins 2015, p. 6)At the entrance to one of the most contested coal mines in Central India stands
a signboard: “We have only one earth; let us preserve it.” This billboard, at a site
producing the very fossil fuel that is a major contributor to global environmental
damage, is also a double sign; it points both to the effectiveness of leveraging
green credentials as part of a set of marketing strategies and to the ways in which
such green tropes may be deployed as fig leaves to conceal unpleasant, sometimes
catastrophic, environmental realities. Green or cause-related marketing can be a
double-edged sword. It can attract media and consumer attention where otherwise
the cause is absent in the public sphere. It may also enlist supporters who were
previously ignorant or uninspired about that cause. However, unless there is
ongoing and robust commitment from all actors involved, media focus is generally
soon diverted elsewhere, and the cause becomes lost. Endorsement or support for
green causes by corporations and governments make for limited politics if they are
solely profit-driven. On the other hand, a well-thought-out realignment of corporate
and social responsibility goals involving government, corporations, NGOs, and
consumers may have truly transformative aspects—the ability for meaning making
and an opportunity to reauthor the social and material world.
References
Agarwal P. K., and A. K. Tyagi. 2010. “Cause Related Marketing in India: A Conceptual
Paradigm.” Advances in Management 3 (12): 24–31.
Amine, Lyn S. 2003. “An Integrated Micro- and Macrolevel Discussion of Global Green
Issues: ‘It Isn’t Easy Being Green’.” Journal of International Management 9 (4):
373–93
Antil, John H. 1984. “Socially Responsible Consumers: Profile and Implications for Public
Policy.” Journal of Macromarketing 4 (2): 18–39.
BBMG, GlobeScan, and SustainAbility. 2012. Re: Thinking Consumption: Consumers and
the Future of Sustainability. Accessed September 15, 2015. http://www.globescan.com/
component/edocman/?task=document.viewdoc&id=51&Itemid=0.
Bhatia, Mayank, and Amit Jain. 2013. “Green Marketing: A Study of Consumer Perception
and Preferences in India.” Electronic Green Journal 1 (36). http://escholarship.org/uc/
item/5mc39217.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2012. “Postcolonial Studies and the Challenge of Climate Change.”
New Literary History 43 (1): 1–18.