The End of Green?

BP_greenwashing.jpgOriginally uploaded by onikasi

The green trend and the recession trend seem to be on a collision course and something is going to have to give. It’s no secret that brands have been pushing green as a way to appease customers as well as clean up their corporate image, but what will happen in a down market?

All the research that I’ve seen says the predictable. Customers want to buy green products and they want corporations to be green as long as they don’t have to pay more for the product itself. We’ve been calling this “values added” marketing but it could just as well be called “holy shit.” Now you have corporations who are pushing green, most without maintaining a price point, and you have customers who are becoming increasingly mindful of their pocketbooks.

My prediction is that green will continue to move in upscale categories and categories like automotive where there is a bottom line benefit for customers. In the mid and lower markets it will move back to corporate image and away from products since customers don’t typically cough up the money right away to help a corporate image. Longer term the future of the trend is anyone’s guess. Make yours in the comment section below.

An Example of Being Green Making Green

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Originally uploaded by distillerymedia

This post follows on the heels of a great comment on my earlier post Bookmarks Are For People Who Hate Money. Why do magazines keep printing subscription cards for magazines that you already subscribe to? Is there really no way to separate the books that go to the newsstand from the ones that go to your mailbox?

Well, it appears that at least the team at Outside magazine has figured out a way to stop sending subscribers 10 free bookmarks every month. And by eliminating these blow-in subscription cards they estimate that they will “eliminate the printing of 20 million subscription cards… [saving] an estimated 1,500 trees.” Not to mention the nuisance to readers who have to pick them up off the subway floor when they fall out.

But worry not, newsstand readers, you’ll still get free bookmarks.