Last week, the Federal Trade Commission proposed changes in the "Green Guides" it issues to marketers "to help them avoid making misleading environmental claims." Maybe it should have issued complementary rules that require consumers to care more about eco-friendly products in the first place. Two surveys released last month find many consumers lacking enthusiasm for buying green goods, particularly if (as people suspect is typically the case) they'd have to pay a premium for them.
It's not that consumers are indifferent to the environment or disinclined to hold companies responsible for helping to preserve it. Rather, they'll let themselves be easily deterred from taking the personal step of buying green goods. Successive pages of the Green Gauge Global report from GfK Roper Consulting encapsulate the problem for green-product marketers. First, we read that 71 percent of respondents in North America believe "It is important that companies take environmentally responsible actions." (So far, so good for eco-concern.) On the next page, though, we find 66 percent agreeing, "The environmentally friendly alternatives for many of the products I use are too expensive."
A similar perception emerges from a survey by Marcal Small Steps, a unit of the Marcal household-paper company that specializes in products made from recycled materials. (Kiwi, a parenting magazine that focuses on green living, was a partner in this study.) Conducted among female heads of household age 25-54 who regularly buy household paper products, this poll found 75 percent believing "environmentally friendly paper products are priced higher than conventional paper products." Asked why they don't buy eco-friendly paper goods more often, 62 percent said it's because "They have higher prices." Sixty-three percent said the same when asked about "household products."
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