Regulation of Environmental Marketing Claims: A Comparative Perspective

Marketing, Morality and the Natural Environment

“…In the case of supply-side issues, respondents in the current study laid much of the blame on miscreant firms who had confused consumers with inappropriate and misleading labelling, thus confounding any sfraightforward marketing approaches (Prothero et al, 1994;Kangun and Polonsky, 1995;National Consumer Council, 1996). Kangun and Polonsky (1995) for example have identified three main reasons behind consumer confusion with green claims: a) the difficulty in assessing environmental claims, even after purchase; b) the high context-dependency of many claimed benefits; and c) consumer unfamiliarity with environmental claims, terms and (relatively uncertain) scientific evidence.…”

“…Davis (J.J.) (1994) for example provides empfrical evidence that consumers do indeed make ethical attributions and evaluations in response to green advertising claims, whilst the National Consumer Council's (1996) focus group study reveals a large measure of scepticism, confusion, and ignorance on the part of shoppers in respect to onproduct claims. The result, it is argued, is one of dented credibility for green marketers, and this in turn is seen as hampering future marketing efforts (Schot, 1992;Prothero et al, 1994;Kangun and Polonsky, 1995;National Consumer Council, 1996). In many respects, these and the studies discussed immediately previously are sfrongly related.…”

“…Kangun and Polonsky (1995) for example have identified three main reasons behind consumer confusion with green claims: a) the difficulty in assessing environmental claims, even after purchase; b) the high context-dependency of many claimed benefits; and c) consumer unfamiliarity with environmental claims, terms and (relatively uncertain) scientific evidence.…”

“…Most common among these studies have been those concemed with misleading and deceptive green claims in green promotions and on-pack labels (e.g. Kangun, et al, 1991;Davis (J.J.), 1991Davis (J.J.), , 1992Davis (J.J.), , 1994McCloskey et al, 1993;Kangun and Polonsky, 1995;National Consumer Council, 1996). Discussion has cenfred primarily around the use of terms such as 'biodegradable', 'recyclable' and 'environmentally friendly' which have been shown to have been used to describe unproven, hiconclusive, or unrealistic product benefits.…”

“…In general then, sfrong green claims were avoided. Indeed, there was considerable evidence to suggest that executives even regarded these as potentially harmful additions to marketing effort given consumer preconceptions of performance short-falls (National Consumer Council, 1996;Wong et al, 1996), problems of poor credibility (Kangun and Polonsky, 1995), and the prospect of increased scmtiny from pressure groups as a result of public declarations of greenness (Fineman, 1996).…”