|
Green
marketing or green wash? A comparative study of consumers’
behavior on selected Eco and Fair trade labeling in Sweden
Atiq Uz Zaman*, Sofiia Miliutenko and
Veranika Nagapetan
Environmental Engineering and Sustainable
Infrastructure, KTH, Sweden,
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
atique@kth.se.
Tel: +46-720 250 199.
Accepted
23 June, 2010 |
|
Green marketing is in the focus of present
marketing strategy due to the pressure that comes from
inclined environmental awareness in the global climate
change. Different initiatives have been considered to
support environmental programme and practices and one of the
meaningful business initiatives is eco or fair trade
labeling. Eco-label provides the information of product
contribution in the context of environmental burden to the
consumers. Different label initiatives are available in the
present business market as a provider of ‘white goods’,
however, the basic principles of the label initiative are
ignored in most of the business practices. The study
compared eight selected eco-brands which were used on the
Swedish market. Comparison was based on environmental
justice and ecosystem services perspectives. The study
showed that most of the eco brands do not comply with
environmental justice and ecosystem services in their label
policy initiatives. Moreover, there is a gap between policy
and practices. Questionnaire survey showed that environment
is an important criterion for consumers while purchasing
consumer products. Eco-label is an important tool; however,
this tool is not communicating to consumers to its expected
role.
Key
words: Green marketing, eco-label, consumer
behavior, environmental justice. |
