Only a couple of years can make a huge difference in the way people spend. What people look for when they are buying is often guided by changes in fashion. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the fashion industry, where shoppers change their tastes by the season, often guided in their choices by magazines and celebrities.
The craze for organic foods and green produce peaked in 2008 but has been on the decline ever since. Since the recession hit, cash strapped shoppers have seemingly opted for price over sustainability, and sales of organic food alone fell by 13% during 2009.
But just as magazines can influence style, could the media at large have been responsible for guiding a green fashion statement? Now that the papers are full of tales of financial woe, has the green message become outdated, much in the same way a dress loses it’s appeal after a few years?
It’s an idea that’s worth exploring. How many people can genuinely say that they understand the meaning of organic foods, or the Fairtrade symbol? Indeed, how many products that are marketed as green can honestly claim that they are making any positive difference to the state of the planet?
There’s no doubt that companies cashed in on these ideas during the boom times, and many shoppers, often with much disposable income, were keen to play up to the role of the ethical shopper. It almost became a statement of your personality rather than an effort to shop more ethically.
It also became a popular device in the world of business, with more and more companies keen to show off their green credentials to appeal to those consumers who followed that ideology.
It can be argued that for all it’s good intentions, the green craze did more harm than good. The issues it raised were often trivialised by people looking to jump on the boat, and surely any increase in consumerism will only result in an increase in waste further on down the line.
These ecological conundrums are even played out in the world of promotional gifts. A feature of the new product range on our sister site, http://www.promotional-gifts-co.com, is an environmental showcase of recycled and Fairtrade promotional items that tick the box of being eco friendly. There is an argument that says that given the disposable nature of promotional gifts, such as promotional bags and promotional pens, can there ever be any such thing as an eco friendly promotional gift?
The answer has to be that if there is going to be a demand for promotional gifts, it makes sense to try and produce these in as green a way as possible. While they will be used to some extent to further the green credentials of the companies that use them, it also makes sense to produce an often disposed of product in as ethical a way as possible.
If the eco craze was a fashion statement, it certainly was a popular one. But surely if it is going to teach us any lasting lessons, it is of our responsibility to produce products, promotional or otherwise, in an ethical way.
