The concept of sustainable marketing is centered on the idea
of sustainability. Sustainability means taking responsible actions towards the
environment to best serve current generations and future generations.
Sustainable marketing is socially and environmentally responsible marketing
that meets the present needs of consumers and businesses while also preserving
or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
However, the core ideas of marketing consumer products and
sustainability may be contradicting ideas. Is it possible to have sustainable
marketing? One if the main ideas of sustainability is that we need to consume less.
And one of the main goals of marketing is to get people to consume more. Can
the two concepts work together? While sustainable marketing and the strategic
marketing concepts recognize the importance of the future generations, how do
they actually plan on implementing these into their marketing plans and into their products that they plan on releasing?
I think that one of the answers to these questions is what product the company is marketing. A company cannot release an honest
sustainable marketing campaign for an SUV. Just like a plastic water bottle
company can’t release an honest sustainable marketing campaign, because neither of these products are sustainable. But a bike company and
a reusable water bottle company could definitely have a sustainable marketing
campaign.
Another reason that makes companies and their products
“unsustainable” is something called planned obsolescence. What this means is
that a product becomes obsolete before they actually need replacement. Some
producers are accused of using materials that won’t last very long. This makes for a very unsustainable product. In class we talked about how breakable
phones are today- and how we are constantly needing to replace our iPhones. We
also talked about the potential for a new product to be released called the PhoneBlock. This product would last much longer than the traditional cell
phone, and would be much more sustainable.
The marketing industry has also been accused of creating too
much materialism and adding false wants. This also contradicts one of the core
ideas of sustainability, which is that we need to consume less. We’ve created a
society in which our material needs cannot be satisfied. This is extremely
unsustainable. It would be interesting if there was a way that marketing could
reverse this trend. If they could somehow market the message to use less, and
reduce what we consume. Marketing this message alongside sustainable products
built to last would be a much smarter plan for the future.
There are a few other “evils” that the marketing system has
been accused of adding to. They’ve been accused of deceptive pricing, deceptive
promotion, and deceptive packaging. They also have been accused of promoting
negative messages in society. Particularly with body image issues.
Responsible marketing can be beneficial to consumers,
companies and society as a whole. Hopefully this can be one more way to cut our environmental footprint and make our world a better place to live in. Clearly
marketing is a very influential tool and it makes sense to use it to our
societies advantage.
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