The 2011 Green Brands Survey recently found that consumer interest in green products continues to increase and has expanded across categories – from personal care, food and household products to automotive, energy and technology goods. Companies across all sectors are rolling out new and or improved products touting eco-friendly attributes. With such a varied selection of products making green claims, how does one make an educated decision on the best products for their family and lifestyle? Seri McClendon, chief executive officer of CLEAN Agency, shares insight on this issue.

What are businesses doing to meet consumer demand for eco-friendly products and services?

Sustainability has become a key business issue for consumer product companies. They recognize that in order to remain competitive they must shift to meet the changing demands of consumers and of the environment. To do this, businesses are taking a critical look at their supply chains and determining how they can produce better products that have a reduced impact on the environment and can still deliver on their brand promise. Some of the ways this is being done include responsible raw material sourcing, more efficient manufacturing processes and reduced, reusable or recyclable packaging materials to cut waste to landfills. Companies are also beginning to highlight such innovations on their product packaging to promote their commitment to environmental stewardship and gain loyalty from like-minded consumers.

When shopping for green products, what should consumers know about “greenwashing” and how can they evaluate eco-friendly product claims?

Greenwashing has received a lot of attention lately as more and more businesses try to capitalize on the growing consumer interest in green products. Greenwashing refers to deceptive marketing used to promote a misleading statement or perception about a product, policy or service.  The first step in making smart purchase decisions is to educate yourself before heading to the store. GreenerChoices.org is an excellent resource for consumers that want to learn more about specific product claims and their meaning. The site provides independently researched, unbiased information on product safety, health and nutrition, updated label claims and other related topics.

Certification labels from reputable environmental organizations can also help consumers choose sustainable products. The Environmental Protection Agency, for example, provides Energy Star certification for energy efficient home appliances and the Design for the Environment label for high performance, cost effective and environmentally-friendly cleaning products. Responsible consumer product companies like Seventh Generation, Patagonia and Aveda also document and substantiate product claims on their web site.

How can consumers further drive sustainability efforts of their favorite brands?

Be vocal! Let the brands you patronize know how you feel about their products and their efforts towards becoming more sustainable. Share feedback on a company’s web site, comment on news stories written about sustainable innovations of your favorite brands and leverage the power of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to let companies know what you want from their products and services.

ABOUT SERI MCCLENDON

Seri McClendon is the CEO of CLEAN Agency. She is an industry veteran with more than 22 years of marketing experience. Seri formed CLEAN, an integrated agency serving the sustainable business sector, from her passion for environmental studies, policy and science. She holds a Masters degree in Geography with an emphasis in Industrial Ecology and a BA in marketing. Seri is a member of The USC Center for Sustainable Cities Advisory Board and was recently recognized as an Outstanding Woman in Environment and Energy Efficiency by the 2011 Women in Business Awards. 

• Urban 
• Culturally proud/sensitive
• Tech/Media savvy
• Global
• Socially Conscious

The Latest LOHAS Consumer Trends

The below article is brought to you as part of elephant journal’s ongoing coverage of LOHAS Forum. For our complete coverage, be sure to follow elephant on Twitter and Facebook.

I walked into the main ballroom at the St. Julien and scanned the dimly lit room for a seat while Steve French, dressed in a large paper bag, and Gwynne Rogers, covered in plastic bags, began speaking on stage. I knew right then this wasn’t going to be just any presentation.

Not knowing much about LOHAS until two weeks ago I was excited to learn more about who the LOHAS consumer is – and who they’re growing to be. French and Rogers took us through various statistics, facts and opinions with humor as well as knowedge.

The first topic on deck was the green movement. French gave the first point stating that green is as strong as ever and the recession has been a good thing in regards the green market.

He gave a number of great points including, that sustainability itself is not sustainable. Businesses must look at why consumers are buying in the first place. Even though he acknowledged it was “an oxymoronic statement,” French insisted we were shopping our way to sustainability.

The greenest product you can buy is the one you don’t buy.

On the opposing side, Rogers stated it was naïve to think that the recession hasn’t had an effect on the green marketplace. Showing that consumption of organic food and natural cleaning products, for example, have fallen at an average of 10%.

Most consumers are taking into account the price of the products and not acknowledging their carbon footprint. 70% of consumers base their purchase decisions on price.

It was great to discuss both positive and negative views, especially when it comes to the green movement. So much information and opinions can be extremely one-sided. And to get the info in costume made it that much better.

Some interesting facts about the LOHAS consumer:

• – Different segments: naturalites, drifters, conventionals, and unconcerned – but we didn’t talk     much about the unconcerned since, as French said, “we don’t like them.”
• – Generally the first ones that try new eco-friendly products
• – High interest and active in social media and gorilla marketing
• – Used to predict upcoming trends
• – Always looking for the “deeper green” – greener versions of existing products

French and Rogers also ran through the positive and negatives of operations for your business.

Is it better to have a green product or to run your operations in a green way?

On one side, the view was that the product itself doesn’t have enough impact and therefor how you make the product should be ethical and green. On the opposing side, the product should be green because that’s what consumers are paying for.

Rogers took both approaches – go big or go home, stating that if you’re going to make the effort to create a green product for consumers, you might as well go all the way in your production as well.

In the realm of how to market to LOHAS consumers, “Keep it simple, stupid.”

There has been an information overload when it comes to the green movement, but some still don’t even know what sustainability means – 15% haven’t even heard of it. Yes, you read that correctly.

The most important things to take away from French and Roger’s presentation:

• – It doesn’t have to be paper or plastic, we have to integrate new products, sources, etc., without alienating others – and people
• – Needs to practical and sustainable
• – Work towards producing green products and operations
• – Think beyond your current geography

Overall, find a balance.

My company has been firmly planted in the green space since our birth in 2003.  We were not first, but we were pretty early.  A lot has changed.

We have made our way through the rapid change by studying the culture.  We produce content that is relevant to the various sustainability movements (there are multiple) taking shape around us.  Here are some examples of the type of content we produce to understand it all:

• Biennial Green Language Survey of 100 Print Ads
• Pop-Culture Lens studies exploring the meaning of sustainability in our culture
• Our soaplabs design, test and prove innovative strategies with very trusting clients
• An upcoming report that breaks emerging marketing trends into 6 narratives

Our latest green language study will be available (for free) later this month (if you’d like an advance copy, let us know here).  As a sneak peak, here is one of the findings: 

Green is no longer a driving element in print ads.

As we write the report, I’m reminded of a talk I gave at the LOHAS Forum in 2007.  The talk was called A Beautiful Ambiguity: Language, LOHAS and the Mainstream (If you’d like to download the nostalgic pdf, go here).  I remember saying to the crowd, "once green is mainstream our competitive advantage is gone."  My point was that we were all hyper focused on green as THE thing.  And at the time it was THE thing.  But at some point the rest of the market was going to catch up with us, and we would need to evolve.  That time has come.

I used pop-culture to illustrate the point and show how trends evolve.  For example, when bubblegum pop music starts using hardcore street language (or gang signs), the street must change how it represents itself – it’s no longer dangerous. It pushes it further.  When the skinny suburban kid steals your language, urban kids don’t want it back.  Or, more contemporarily, when your mom comes home in skinny jeans, things must change.  This is the way culture evolves – change happens in the margins, mainstream absorbs and the margin pushes it further. 

Fringe – Margin – New Fringe – New Margin – New New Fringe – New New Margin…and so on.

And throughout this continuous cycle of cultural evolution, the entire system becomes more and more complex.  It’s not unlike energy efficiency. The first 40% of efficiency (perhaps sustainability in general) was the easiest.  But by now we have changed the light bulbs and weatherized the house.  The next 40% will get progressively more complex and challenging.  It will require new technologies, processes, innovations and ways to measure impact. 

Similarly, sustainability marketing  programs need to engage consumers in new ways.  They need to be measured in new ways.  They must push the dialog further.  The programs that companies design to embody LOHAS are growing in complexity out of necessity.  I think this is a good thing.  It is part of cultural evolution.  One of the projects that graduated our soaplabs was More Than Promote - a strategy that measures marketing by its corporate, civic and cultural impact. 

If we’re not innovative in how we fundamentally approach marketing, we end up looking like a modern version of Vanilla Ice sampling Vanilla Ice sampling Queen. 

By John "Ice Ice Baby" Rooks

It’s hard to believe, but then again it’s not – the Federal Trade Commission has challenged a company that was selling a scam environmental certification.  Not surprisingly, the agency filed a press release last month announcing that FTC is prosecuting the marketers of the “Tested Green” environmental certification program, seeking to bar the company and its founder from engaging in this type of deception.  The agency also seeks a twenty year compliance order, to supervise the individuals responsible for “Tested Green.”

According to the FTC’s complaint in the matter, Tested Green certification was sold at two price levels, for $189.95 for a “Rapid” certification and $549.95 for the “Pro-Certify” Tested Green certification.  However, the only real requirement to obtain the certification was a willingness to pay for it.  In exchange, Tested Green would provide logos and a link to a Tested Green web page that would “verify” certification.  As the FTC press release quipped, Tested Green certifications “were neither tested nor green.” 

Apparently, the FTC has found that 129 customers were duped by (or perhaps complicit with) the bogus Tested Green certification program.  If consumers or competitors of these customers were potentially harmed or mislead by such certifications, don’t be surprised to see additional fallout from this investigation. 

The problem of false certifications is certainly not limited to “Tested Green.”  In the 2010 Greenwashing Report, the marketing firm TerraChoice notes that this is one of the bigger problems with environmental marketing claims, finding that over 30% of the 4,744 products examined for the 2010 Report advertised false certifications.  If that is true, the FTC’s enforcement action against Tested Green isn’t exactly a clean-up in the industry. 

To be fair, the FTC’s new proposed Green Guides do attempt to address this problem directly, noting that bogus certifications will be prosecuted.  Still, given the modest number of green marketing enforcement actions in recent years, it is hard to imagine that FTC will launch a major offensive against false certifications.  On the other hand, a few FTC prosecutions, the TerraChoice Greenwashing Report, and other means of enforcement available to consumers and competing companies, should serve as warning to would-be false certifiers and those who would purchase their bogus certifications.  The market is wise to this type of cynical green marekting strategy.

Joseph ("Jay") Eckhardt is an attorney, and the editor of the FTC Green Guides Resource Page at the law firm Stoel Rives LLP, based in Portland, Oregon. 

The rising tide against greenwashing may have swamped the Fiji Water Company.  The issue is carbon offsets.  Is Fiji Water truly “carbon negative” as the company has advertised?  A lawsuit filed last month by the Newport Trial Group, a law firm representing California consumers, argues that it isn’t.  The problem isn’t that Fiji hasn’t tried to account for and offset carbon emissions.  The problem, according to the consumers’ complaint, is that Fiji relies on carbon offsets that are premised on speculative offsets that “may or may not happen in the future.”  Once again, the market is looking closer at green marketing claims – and class action plaintiffs’ attorneys are striking out against vague claims.   Whether Fiji Water has actually deceived consumers with its ecofriendly claims is yet to be determined. 

Certainly, the Fiji Water case isn’t the first consumer class action that alleges deception in the context of greenwashing, but it is another indicator that green marketing can be risky.  And while there has been significant attention to the Federal Trade Commission’s release of new Green Guides for environmental marketing in recent months, the Fiji Water case also serves as a reminder that the FTC isn’t the only stakeholder empowered to challenge environmental marketing claims. 

What did Fiji Water do to provoke this challenge?  According to the complaint, the key issue is that carbon offsets purchased by Fiji rely on something called “forward crediting,” a method of providing carbon offset credits based on future offsetting activities.  The complaint alleges that forward crediting has been discredited by the Stockholm Environment Institute.

The fact that Fiji Water went beyond merely trying to offset its carbon emissions, and claimed that its products are “carbon negative” based on the purchase of carbon offsets equal to 120% of its carbon emissions is also very relevant.  This may be  a case of “no good deed goes unpunished” – if Fiji in fact did purchase bona fide carbon offsets that will materialize in the future.  On the other hand, if the facts show that Fiji purchased speculative or poorly administrated carbon offset credits, expect the California consumers to demand a big settlement.  (The complaint argues that Fiji Water’s “carbon negative” advertising helps the company charge super-premium prices.)

An interesting aspect of the complaint is that while it does not reference the FTC’s new Green Guides, the consumer challenge against forward crediting tracks with the FTC’s thinking.  The proposed new Guides advise that  “marketers should clearly and prominently disclose if [their] carbon offset represents emission reductions that will not occur for two years or longer.”  The Green Guides are not California law of course, but California’s consumer protection statute does actually make reference to the Green Guides and provides a legal defense for companies that can show their marketing claims are consistent with the Guides.  

Regardless of where the Fiji case actually goes, it teaches a couple important lessons to all marketers.  First, remember that the FTC isn’t the only “enforcer” empowered to challenge a green marketing strategy.  Bogus, vague, or speculative claims may be challenged by class action attorneys under state laws, especially in big states like California.  Second, the guiding principle for green marketing claims has to be complete disclosure.  A company can merely claim that it purchases carbon offsets, but that claim is risky without further disclosure of the fine print.

Guest Blogger Joseph ("Jay") Eckhardt is an attorney at Stoel Rives LLP, based in Portland, Oregon.  

Just what the world needs – another design award.  

The More Than Promote® MashUp Awards give sustainability-minded graphic designers and green marketing experts a chance to take on their favorite (or least favorite) brands and give them a More Than Promote makeover.  Its a graphic and strategic design challange for green marketers.

More Than Promote campaigns are designed to have the following metrics:

Corporate Value – Classic ROI for ad campaigns - like sales, traffic, brand recall.  Exsisting campaigns likely already have this (or better), but you can change them.

Civic Value – Add a positive benefit that the promotion itself offers to the community or the planet in general.  Pick up garbage, paints bike lanes, financial literacy, cures cancer.  Make sure the Civic impact in on brand, or at least moves the brand forward.

Cultural Value – Add a progressive positive dialogue through the promotion that moves our culture forward.  What culture change is needed to sustain the brand and the planet?

Here's the task:  Pick a brand campaign and mash it up with the values created through More Than Promote.  Have fun with it.  What MORE can promotion do?

Here are a few MashedUp examples to get your started:

NetFlix uses their two-way envelopes allowing soldiers and their family's to communicate for free with positive messages of support and pride.

Corporate: Branding

Civic: Free communication for troops and families.

Cultural: Positive messages of support.

DunkinDonuts launches a promotion to promote and support home composting. Pick up your bag of used coffee grounds at your local DD's.

Corporate: Store foot traffic, less waste disposal.

Civic: Increase composting, waste steam reduction.

Cultural: Introduce composting language and action to target demo.

Now it’s your turn.  Submit your own promotion image(s) and strategy MashUps for the 2011 MTP Mashup Awards.  Winners will be announced at this year's LOHAS Conference in June in Boulder Colorado.

You can find more about the strategy, the rules and submission guides right here.

After almost three years of consultation and planning, and following a great deal of anticipation in recent months, the Federal Trade Commission has finally published “Proposed, Revised Green Guides.”  This latest version of the Green Guides will be open for public comment until December 10, 2010.  After that, according to an FTC press release, the agency will issue a final, official version of the Guides. 

It’s a sad truth, but consumers and regulators view environmental marketing claims with increasing skepticism.  While many companies make fair claims about the environmental attributes of their products, others are exploiting consumer demand for sustainable products with false or unsubstantiated marketing claims.  Thanks to such tactics, the term “greenwashing” has entered the marketing lexicon.  The environmental marketing firm TerraChoice brilliantly describes and defines greenwashing in its 2009 Greenwashing Report, and concludes that many, if not most, environmental marketing claims are unfounded. 

In this climate, it’s no surprise that the FTC is stepping up efforts to combat greenwashing.  A key step in this new enforcement effort is to provide more guidance on environmental marketing claims through the Green Guides.  The Guides (last updated in 1998) provide non-binding “interpretations” of federal consumer protection regulations, namely Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. § 45), which is the law that empowers the agency to punish deceptive practices. 

The Green Guides provide common-sense instruction on green marketing strategy, and more specific guidance on particular marketing terms that were popular in 1998, including “biodegradable,” “compostable,” “recyclable,” “refillable,” and “ozone safe.”  The new proposed Green Guides address those terms, but also provide guidance on new terms and concepts found in present-day green marketing, such as:

• environmental seals of approval,
• “free-of” and “non-toxic” claims,
• carbon offsets,
• claims concerning renewable energy, and 
• claims concerning renewable materials. 

Given the explosion of environmental marketing claims in recent years, revised Green Guides are well overdue.  But what kind of impact will they have?  The new Guides do not really change the rules; the FTC has always identified the Green Guides as “guides” useful in applying consumer protection law.  Ultimately, product claims for clean technologies will be evaluated under the FTC Act itself, for their potential to deceive consumers.  If claims are vague and unqualified, or cannot be substantiated by scientifically proven facts, they are going to be suspect. 

The FTC provides a brief summary of the proposed Green Guides here, provides the complete Guides with analysis and comment here; public comments on the proposed Guides may be submitted here.  Read more insightful commentary on the new Green Guides here, and here.

Guest Blogger Joseph ("Jay") Eckhardt is an attorney at Stoel Rives LLP, based in Portland, Oregon.
 

The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA, home to such brands as Adidas, Levi’s, and Nike), recently launched its benchmarking Eco Index worldwide, hoping to cement it (and itself) as the leading sustainability measurement tool for apparel and more. In fact, this group clearly has its sights set on taking this tool beyond its own industry boundaries to others seeking better understanding of a green marketing strategy.

Although the site is gaining momentum while still in beta, it is not moving fast enough for some. The folks at Timberland have a competing rating system called the Green Index they launched in 2007, complete with a snazzy website and social media-friendly branding. Getting end purchasers to recognize and use the index is crucial. I discussed this with Tom De Blasis, Global Design Director for Nike Soccer, while he was on a road trip recently. He observed ”the third party nature of the Eco Index can cut through the corporate noise and terminology clutter that has lead to consumer confusion.”

The products within the OIA are diverse, from footwear to filters for water, all aimed at getting us out from behind our desks and into the great outdoors. But when you dig deeper into this toolset, you can see how it could be applied to a number of different industries.

I asked Kim Coupounas about it. She’s the Chief Sustainability Officer of GoLite, past chairman of the OIA board, and a current member of OIA’s Eco Working Group, which launched the tool. Coupounas explained “the Eco Index is completely open-source and available for use by all companies, not just those in the outdoor industry. While it’s rooted in the outdoor industry, it has the ability to be applied within most other industries and sectors.”

While companies can score points for fairly dubious “improvements” – Levi’s gets points for telling me to wash my jeans in cold water to save energy (duh) – the majority of the categories for scoring points are environmentally solid. For many companies, the Eco Index will become a serious motivational tool, applicable to everyone from the CEO to the unpaid intern. Dan Marriner, a designer for Element Skateboards, commented, “for companies that have been performing well in terms of environmental sustainability, the Eco Index is a positive motivation to continue fine tuning the way products are made. For others it is a kick in the pants that will either motivate them, or separate them from an increasingly conscious market.”

But the version 1.0 of the Eco Index falls short is one major area, when looking at the human rights aspect of our supply chains. As we all know, you measure what you want to improve. The Eco Index is the best collaborative effort I’ve seen to date that measures eco-related areas ranging from land use intensity to how the chemistry of the products interacts with human beings. But it falls short of measuring additional impacts on the humans involved in the production process.

If one defines true sustainability as having components related to profit, planet, and people, then the Eco Index is well on its way. For the next version of the Eco Index, I’d love to see the human rights impact better measured, perhaps by marrying it to an existing system such as Transfair USA’s Fair Trade certification or an updated version of OIA’s own Fair Labor measurement system. Then we could truly call this index “sustainable” for the profit, planet, and people.

How do you define “sustainability” in your industry?

Businesses the world over are leveraging LOHAS as a way to understand the consumption preferences of a growing number of people who care deeply about personal, community and planetary health and well-being, and are willing to spend accordingly.

While this theme acts as a backbone for LOHAS globally, significant differences exist in the interpretation of LOHAS from one geography to another. Not surprisingly, these differences tend to be largely driven by local cultural, environmental and social nuances.

For example, according to Peter Salmon from Moxie Design Group, LOHASians in New Zealand express their LOHAS values through outdoor experiences, seeking a connection with the landscape and concern about social issues.  This differs from U.S.-based LOHAS consumers, who typically have a stronger focus on personal well-being.  In Australia, the situation is different again, with environmental issues of drought and climate change hitting many Australians hard in their own backyard. Severe water restrictions are forcing Aussies to change how they think about their much-loved gardens and lawns.

CERTIFICATION KEY TO MARKET ACCEPTANCE
A key theme emerging from European and Australian studies is consumers’ desire for certification marks or “trust” marks from credible certification bodies, providing independent verification that the product lives up to its LOHAS claims. Supporting this claim are the findings of a  recent Porter Novelli report, which revealed that Europeans were 32 percent more likely than American consumers to buy products with such marks, and Mobium Group’s Living LOHAS report, which found similar conclusions among the Australian population.

LOHAS IN ASIA
Despite many similarities, key differences have emerged in the use of LOHAS between Western countries and the countries of East Asia—including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, where LOHAS is a booming consumer term. The emergence of LOHAS-branded foods and beverages, fashion labels and even LOHAS department stores heralds a new use of the LOHAS term as it crosses from business-speak into the consumer vocabulary.
While most Western consumers would draw a blank if asked for a definition of LOHAS, approximately 70 percent of Japanese adults at least recognize the term while up to 40 percent can articulate its meaning, according to Toshi Ide of the Japan-based LOHAS Business Alliance.

But how is LOHAS really interpreted in Asia? In China, LOHAS has been roughly translated to mean “good life” and has even been picked up by Chinese state radio. And English-language website Chinadaily.com.cn has published several articles referring to “escaping city life” and enjoying LOHAS experiences on the weekends in the countryside surrounding Beijing.

In Singapore, the city state’s Tourism Board markets the country to its Asian visitors as the LOHAS city—focusing on its spa resorts, authentic Nyonya-style cooking and its water recycling efforts (a necessity in such a small island nation, as the key to its LOHAS claims).

The emergence of LOHAS as a consumer brand has brought with it a range of organizations seeking to capitalize on the term, with varying levels of commitment to the values of core LOHAS consumers offered through a wide a range of products and services.

INNOVATION
Small and medium-size enterprises comprise one sector where serious efforts have been made to address the needs and desires of LOHAS consumers on platforms of personal and planetary health and wellness. In many cases, these businesses have been the keys to LOHAS innovation.

One example of this sort of innovation is U.S.-based Terracycle.net, a company achieving mainstream distribution and significant success turning waste streams into value through a range of innovative products and services, including a novel approach to garden fertilizer.  With major distribution agreements across North America and licensing interest from across the globe, Terracycle has demonstrated that LOHAS innovation can deliver clear business value.

Another example is Australia-based professional garment cleaners, Daisy (www.daisy.net.au). Daisy has managed to eliminate the harmful chemical, perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene) from its dry cleaning process, using a water-based alternative to deliver an odorless dry cleaning solution free from harmful toxins. Such is the popularity of the Daisy service, excess demand currently means a wait of three days to have your suit cleaned! But based on the volume of customers prepared to wait, the LOHAS approach to dry cleaning has again demonstrated a commercial payoff.

Similarly, this year saw the launch in France of Velib (www.velib.paris.fr), a Paris-based commercial bicycle sharing operation that provides bicycles for commuters for a nominal fee. With over 10,000 bikes in circulation across 750 self-service docking stations throughout the city, this model is providing inspiration for cities the world over.
It seems that everywhere you look, there are examples of innovations, often by small and medium enterprises that are working toward more sustainable and healthier outcomes for people and the planet.

CONNECTIVITY
One of the difficulties faced by LOHAS consumers and the businesses that supply their needs is seeking out and finding each other—and connecting.
This key theme is driving the emergence of media platforms that respond to LOHAS consumers’ desire for greater connectivity—to other LOHASians and the organizations that manufacture and retail products and services that meet their values criteria.

Examples of recent activity in this space include Gaiam’s acquisition of Lime.com and zaadz.com, two strongly LOHAS-oriented information and social networking sites. Businesses, including U.S.-based Sustainlane, New Zealand-based Celsias, and a range of other sites across Europe, are springing up across the globe to fill this gap for information, referrals and advice. Discovery Channel recently purchased website Treehugger.com as the online property for its soon-to-be-launched Planet Green program.

Across the globe, mainstream consumer and investor interest in opportunities related to renewable energy, organic food, complementary medicine, low-impact transportation and other LOHAS products and services clearly demonstrates that LOHAS businesses have moved out of the fringes and are now attracting significant investor capital and expertise. Companies and investors that embrace the opportunity that LOHAS presents have the opportunity to take a leading position in the industries that will define the 21st century.

Key Facts: LOHAS in Australia
• Nearly 4 million adult Australians (26 percent of adult population) are LOHAS aligned. 
• Individuals with a LOHAS outlook are drawn from all parts of society; their values and world view are not strongly tied to income, geography or gender.
• Australian consumers currently spend $12 billion on goods and services in the LOHAS market segments, with an overall growth rate of 20 percent expected to continue. The market is expected to reach $21 billion by 2010.
• While 8 percent of the population are LOHAS “Leaders” who are highly committed and active participants in fully integrated healthier, more sustainable lives, the LOHAS “Learners” are the largest of the four segments, identified at 46 percent and standing as a largely untapped opportunity. 
• Learners would like to do the “right thing” but are not sure where to start. Solving for their key barriers, which include price and availability, are paramount to unlocking this market.
Source: Mobium Group, www.mobium.com.au, Living LOHAS Report, 2007.

Key Facts: LOHAS, New Zealand
• 32 percent of population Solution Seekers (NZ Equivalent of LOHAS)
• 57 percent female
• Greatest concentration (29 percent) are in the 45-54 year age bracket
• Slight skew toward rural rather than metropolitan locations
• Income profile of NZ LOHAS is growing over time
Source: Peter Salmon, Moxie Design Group, www.moxie.co.nz
Examples:
1. Media/online:
2. Lime – online portal to information, help and advice on LOHAS lifestyle
3. Zaadz and Riverwired – online LOHAS-oriented social networking sites
4. treehugger.com, Celsias.com – innovative online information sources for LOHAS-related themes and online collaboration
5. lohasguide.de (Germany), Sustainlane.com – LOHAS-related product and service listings and market information
6. Mobium Group – Australian research and strategy business focusing on sustainability and well-being; conducted the first research into Australian LOHAS consumers
7. Macro Wholefoods (Australia) – organic and natural foods retail store chain
8. Eco Age (eco-age.com) – a new store in London claiming to provide “a store, showroom, consultancy and destination that will offer inspiration, ideas and specific domestic solutions for all those who want to lead a greener and more energy efficient life”
9. Terracycle – Innovative company that re-uses waste streams and turns them into value-added products
10. Velib – Paris-based bicycle-share company
11. Flexicar.com.au – Australian car-share business winning support from local governments for their eco-friendly and cost-effective car-sharing program
 

Authored by The SOAP Group

Language shapes the way we think and determines what we can think about,” said linguist Benjamin Whorf. Since advertising is the most read text in our culture (we’re hit with between 300 and 3,000 messages each day), the role that advertising’s language plays in shaping thinking about sustainability should not be ignored.

To look at this issue in a bit more depth, we surveyed 100 green print advertisements from both mainstream and
green-minded publications. The ads were for a variety of goods and services, including building products, food and beverages, automobiles, airlines, investing, electronics, detergents, pet food, and cosmetics among others.

Understanding the most commonly used green words of today, reveals insight into the communications trends of tomorrow. As a marketer, understanding ubiquity and saturation is one of the first steps in identifying what’s next. It is then important to recognize that the pulse of modern language provides the market advantage of differentiation.

Emotion vs. Science
The advertising survey bisected operative words (headlines and positioning content in copy) and word families (e.g.,
carbon, CO2, and carbon offset were grouped as one set) into Emotive (“change,” “progress,” “clean”) and Scientific (“carbon,” ”planet,” ”hybrid”) categories. Hyphenated words, like ”eco-friendly,” were considered emotive. We also looked at language intent: Was the phrase intended to be emotional or scientific? For example, in nearly all cases “green” was used emotionally or aspirationally, not scientifically.

At this primary grouping, science-derived words were used 168 times as opposed to emotional words at 116. This
represents marketers’ awareness that prevailing consumers are looking for factual data when making purchases in green contexts. That said, most of the science was fairly vapid, relying more on the language of science than on science itself. This means that science, as a brand differentiator, still has unclaimed potential.

More interesting, however, is the emotive side of the ledger. “Green” was toppled as the leading operative word in its
own category of goods and services. “Less” is today’s operative. “Less” represented the most common linguistic turn
of phrase, showing up 28 times in 100  ads (“green” appeared 23 times). The phrase “go green” is all but abandoned
today. “Green” and its variations are telltales of greenwashing. Still, it seems that it has been relegated to serving as a shortcut to define the category, but doesn’t offer much depth beyond that.

Is “Less” the New “Green”?
Maybe. Green marketing often takes the shape of its current cultural condition. When energy (fuel, etc.) prices were
painfully inflated, marketing language (and solutions) turned to saving money and distance efficiency. Way back in
2008, one could be green and indulge at the same time, as long as they drove a hybrid to get there. Today, energy prices have fallen, but less immediately controllable economic hardships have replaced them. The current condition is one of anti-overindulgence, simplicity (noted eight times, it is a form of “less,” but not classified as such in our survey), and doing more with well...less. This is a cultural condition of the economic turn. “Less” is on the lips of CEOs, school administrators, advertising sales teams, governors, and kitchen-table budgeters. And, apparently, green marketers have picked up on this fact. No surprise there. But, “less” in these ads is a factor of economics, not life philosophy. This was the case with “green” too, where it was arguably more about social status and trend than a
change in values.

It’s odd how a phrase intrinsically linked to anti-consumption can become the most popular word in marketing goods and services. Like “green,” this is the co-opting of the LOHAS language by the mainstream all over again.

But advertising has never been accused of being “accurate” language, so in a sense what’s odd is that we expect authenticity to play a role in it at all. Or at the very least, we should.

Most advertising is based on use of the superlative. “Very” lost its meaning through overuse, so we installed “very, very” into the language set. “Yes” has had to become “absolutely.” “Green” is currently interviewing for hyper-replacements, both in terms of movement and language. This is evolutionary language theory at its quickest. It will be interesting to watch “less” become a superlative. And, of course, we await lesswashing — where the consumption of less is a contrived illusion.

Encouraging consumers to consume less is an emerging marketing strategy. Engineering ways for them to have the same reward consumption offers is a sustainability strategy.

Author Edward Abbey said, “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” In more theoretic terms, according to ecopedagogy, sustainability is not being realized because it represents the antithesis to the political, economic, and cultural status quo of the powerful forces needed to fuel growth. The ‘less’ backlash is a response to this and marks a real milestone along the pathway to culture change and LOHAS ubiquity.

What is a LOHAS Ad?
What’s the difference between a mainstream ad and a LOHAS ad? Maybe a LOHAS ad is a gadfly. A LOHAS ad may be one that challenges the status quo of not just health and sustainability, but of advertising itself. Maybe LOHAS advertising needs to do more than promote and educate. On some level, LOHAS ads have both an opportunity to simultaneously inspire and make a mess.

Shakespeare said, “Past is prologue.” So how can we use these linguistic trends as an opportunity to create more authentic culture change stemming from the LOHAS business community and emerge into the mainstream (as opposed to mainstream marketing to LOHAS)? There are some new frontiers that are ready for marketing to embrace.
• Local as the new niche market (“The 100 Mile Diet” goes mainstream)
• Overwhelming positivity
• Authentic “me” instead of purchased badges of community
• The acquisition of experience over products
• Activist-based marketing (not guerilla, rather marketing that has a purpose beyond marketing)

Advertisements tend to signify cultural trends. They enforce classic structures of economy and politics. But they can also subvert the same. We are advocating for LOHAS marketers to push harder now more than ever to promote their goods and services through the principles and ideals of the LOHAS marketplace, not just the associated signs and signifiers. Move beyond language, go deeper into the trends, and create new levels of business consumer dialogue and engagement.

In 1968, when Garrett Hardin wrote “The Tragedy of the Commons” he was describing a particular dilemma in which individuals acting independently in their own self-interest ultimately destroy a shared resource—even where it’s clear that it is not in anyone’s long-term interest for this to happen. Today’s green ads may be serving the interest in meeting a company’s quarterly bottom line, but few are acting in the interest of communal sustainability.

Unfortunately, advertising shapes American culture; it shapes our image of ourselves. But it is through deconstructing the codes of advertising that we can begin to learn the limits of these codes. And, in turn, improve the odds of sustainability, social equity, and enduring value.