Going “Green” to Make “Green” Weekly Analysis #3

            Since  I was a child I have been worried about the environment and the negative impact that humans have on the earth. In the last twenty years of my life I’ve seen a steady increase of interest in these causes and now everywhere you look businesses and individuals are “going green” in an effort to conserve our resources and reduce our negative impact on the environment. I think this is absolutely wonderful and I am so happy to see this type of thinking being taken seriously and begin to catch on in mainstream society.

Sometimes I question when I see a business “go green” if it is legit or if they are just using this as a type of advertising technique to make more “green” for their wallets. I question this especially now since the eco-friendly interest is on the rise and consumers like me only want to purchase these eco-friendly products.

Everyone should be aware these products come at a higher cost due to the nature of how the products are produced being so much more expensive. But sometimes if the products are no different than an ordinary product and they are advertised in a way that makes it look “green” then businesses can attract consumers like me who are seeking out these eco-friendly products. For example I picked up mascara at the store labeled “Organic Wear” which made me think organic and safer, more eco-friendly. I compared the mascara ingredients to a regularly packaged mascara and the ingredients we identical. “Organic Wear” was the just name of the brand; also the way it was packaged made it look sort of earthy. But nothing about that mascara was any different than the regular version, just the packaging. “Is it not possible that in their selective and carefully calculated use of outside information, advertisers have the power to focus consumer attention exclusively on the positive, i.e., on what is good about the brand or even the entire product class?’ (Petracca & Sorapure 2007, p.99). So the “Organic Wear” mascara is no different than any regular mascara but the company has a strategy here by making it look less harmful in the packaging, it can easily convince a consumer to believe that it is.

So in our quest as a society to “go green” as consumers we must be aware there are companies out there looking to get more “green” in their wallets by tricking us with their intentional packaging and misleading words.