Opportunity or Threat?

"Is environmentalism more of an opportunity or threat for marketers?" Try to find an instance where environmentalism either helped or hurt marketing efforts. Take a stand one way or the other on this question and support your conclusion.

Environmentalism has been an increasingly talked about topic around the world. In the marketing industry people may believe this can be a threat to their company or maybe even an opportunity. I believe environmentalism is more of an opportunity than a threat for marketers. Environmentalism can even open some doors for marketers. For example, creating "eco-friendly" products could bring more customers to your business. People who want environmentally safe products may even pay more for the product if is truly what they believe. In this day in age, more an more people are becoming aware of global warming and are trying to buy things that use less cardboard, plastic and use more items that can be recycled.

This can also be a benefit to a company if the company practices "green" traits. This can include simply recycling in the warehouse, reducing greenhouse gas emission and even use energy efficient printers. Customers becoming aware that your company is going "green" can be a great benefit. For example, when I was a freshman in college (a couple years ago), poland springs water company came out with a new water bottle that used 1/3 less plastic. Many of my friends, including myself bought these "eco-friendly" bottles rather than their competitors. Within months of poland springs coming out with the "eco-friendly" bottles, their competitors followed in the same direction. In this case it proved that environmentalism can be a great opportunity and possibly have higher target market. If other competitors of poland springs didn't come out with the same "eco-friendly" bottles, do you think people would still buy from the other companies?