The “Greening of Communications”; what do the public really want to hear?

 

The past 12 months has seen a full circle when it comes to the ‘green agenda’ in the media. This time last year, you couldn’t turn on the television without hearing some highly enthusiastic message about yet another ‘Climate Change Week’, or the next big government initiative to lower our carbon emissions rate in line with new EU objectives etc etc, but now the public is seemingly growing tired of this corporate “greenwashing”, at least according to the media.

  

With politicians, small and large businesses alike, and even pop stars jumping on what is now sceptically portrayed by the media as the ‘green bandwagon’, many are beginning to wonder whether this attitude of goodwill towards the environment might really be fuelled more by the credit crunch than by a genuine interest in saving the world. 

As more and more large companies are looking for ways to tighten their belts, the slashing of international travel costs in the name of being ‘green’ may be dismissed by some as being a little too ‘convenient’.

Recent research by our sister agency Hotwire, The Greening of Corporate Communications, however, shows that the public are still very interested in a company’s green credentials.  Hotwire’s recent research shows that over 70% of European consumers are more likely to support businesses that show themselves to be running a green operation.  A similar proportion confirmed that when faced with two similarly priced products, they are more likely to buy the ‘greener’ product in a bid to support green initiatives.

The research also shows, however, that only 11.2% of UK companies’ external communications contain the ‘green’ message.  It seems that the ‘green agenda’ may show some mileage yet, at least if the media are willing to admit that the public still want to hear about it.

Tags: Green