In Response to Doug Kendall

I have one company in mind that has changed its product to be more environmentally friendly. That company is Scotties Tissues. I work at a grocery store and happened to look at the label of one of their boxes. Being a tissue company, they use a lot of trees as a part of their business. On every box of their tissues they say that they plant three trees for every one that they use.

They are using this statement of their increased environmental awareness to do two things. First they are trying to project a good image of their company. And second, they are trying to increase sales by staying competitive with other eco-friendly companies.

This is a movement that is around to stay. It has gained so much steam in people's interests when they are looking for a product that it is basically a requirement if you want to sell anything that uses a natural resource.

Is environmentalism more of an opportunity or threat for marketers?

This is a very timely question as more and more people are subscribing to the idea of environmental protection. I believe that this trend makes environmentalism an opportunity for marketers.

Marketers can use the idea of environmental responsibility to their advantage when selling their product or service. An obvious example of an industry that sees environmentalism as an opportunity is the automotive industry. Whole new types of cars have been developed to run on different kinds of fuel. Hybrids, electric cars, bio-diesel, etc... have all come out of this trend toward protecting the environment. Car manufacturers are able to introduce so many new products and now have a secure future in selling cars utilizing the new technologies.

Even though I just said that I believed environmentalism is a boon for automobile manufacturers, it can also be said that environmentalism was a threat at first for the automobile industry. When people were first demanding that more efficient automobiles be produced, it was a strain on the companies. Sales of larger vehicles with greater gas consumption, like SUV's, fell and hurt sales. Federel guidlines for emissions also placed a strain on the companies to produce more fuel efficient cars. But now that the auto-makers have adjusted into the new market, they are meeting customer demands and developing future technologies.

A question to think about would be; what industries will take the biggest hit from environmentalism? Can they adapt to the challenge?