Green Fatique. Green Myopia. Call it what you want, but people are getting tired of the green marketing tactics. It's part of the umbrella idiom that sums up so much modern "virtue signal marketing" issues: "Get Woke, Go Broke."
A little backstory: Green marketing is the technique of showcasing the eco-friendly or environmentally responsible elements of a company. This could be a sustainable product, a low-carbon footprint process or service, or a donation/act that offsets any detrimental part of the company's operations.
And that still can be very lucrative to point out.
The problem lies in the numbers: only about 12 percent of Green Marketing companies are really doing anything green. The vast majority are simply using green imagery and copy to convey the feelings of ecologically sustainability without any of the real effort. The same thing can be said of the equivalent Pink Fatique, which is due to so many copycats using pink labels despite having nothing to do with Breast Cancer research or awareness.
The result of all these copycats? A jaded customer base who has become (understandably) skeptical of anything with a green lid or wreath of leaves around the label.
So should you stop using Green Marketing as part of your strategy?
Yes and no.
If your company has something legitimately worth bragging about, and no skeletons in your closet that would make Captain Planet cry...then go for it. Illustrate your support for the environment in the clearest of terms and images.
But if you think putting anything resembling green marketing on your good or service without having the data or the clear message to back it up will somehow up your numbers instead of blow up in your face...you really need to try your hand at a different approach.
Green and pink marketing are two things people have wised up to, and if you don't wise up to that, your bottom line will reflect that.