Marketing and Sustainability

Sustainable products have been increasing in popularity in these recent years. Many people are starting to realize that the world is very contaminated and if we don't do anything about it, we will have to face the consequences. Due to this, many consumers are shopping to be sustainable, even if the price is higher. Many companies are also taking advantage of this trend in some very negative manners. What is Greenwashing? Greenwashing is when companies make false claims that their products are environmentally friendly only for the benefit of selling more and going along with the sustainability trend. These companies promote their product as eco friendly but in reality are making very little to no effort. The absolute best way to avoid greenwashed products is to DO YOUR RESEARCH!!! Without doing so, you are asking to be tricked by big companies. Many of the claims they make also do not really make any sense and by thinking through those claims thoroughly, you can avoi...

This week we will be exploring how Nike has incorporated sustainability in their products and services. Right now, sustainability is a big trend. Companies along with consumers have been making an  effort to be more sustainable in order to help the world become healthier and renewable. For companies to make their products and services more sustainable , they must: Use low impact materials, this will ensure that the product is durable for sustainability Avoid un-recyclable materials Avoid single use plastics Pay attention to water use Nike Sustainable Products and Services: Nike has been improving in the best way possible in terms of their sustainability. Since 2017, they have introduced Flyleather, which is " a new super material made with ~50% recyclable leather fibers, using 90% less water, and an 80% lower carbon footprint.  The product is created to maximize performance as it’s 5x more durable and 40% lighter than regular leather". This is very similar to their Flykni...

Recently, I did a footprint evaluation around 3-4 weeks ago. I have taken some action when it comes to making an impact on the environment. Today, I reevaluated my footprint and here are my results: Ecological Footprint: Carbon Footprint: Water Footprint: According to these results, I am doing a lot better with the ecological footprint. I can definitely do better in all of the aspects and I want to focus on water and carbon. I will continue to make an effort to carpool as often as I can. Also, I will reduce my shower time and even shut the water off when I am in there and not using it.  I am excited and proud to say that my ecological footprint has gone down tremendously and I want to keep this going. 

  Nike and Sustainability: Nike measures their sustainability through data. Specifically, Nike created the Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) and this is how they evaluate the impact the materials they use on their products to the environment. Nike also released all of this information so that anyone and everyone can see it and has access to it. So far, this is the only way that Nike has measured sustainability in their company. Every single product that they use can be looked at and evaluated by the MSI which I believe is very good. Overall, I believe that there can definitely be something that they are not measuring. They measure three categories which are the material environmental attributes, the base material score and supplier practices. In more depth, they measure the chemistry, energy and greenhouse gas intensity, water and land use intensity and physical waste. To go even more in depth, they measure green chemistry, recycled content, organic content, RSL, wa...

 Current Events in Sustainable Marketing: Consumer Behavior      In my marketing sustainability class we have the opportunity to explore some current events going on in the sustainable marketing side of the world. This week, we will be taking a time into Consumer Behavior and the relationship it has with sustainable marketing. In specific, we will look at an article that describes the relationship between consumer behavior and music.   Highlights: Tempo of a song has an effect on consumers to purchase eco friendly products Scale of a song has an effect o n consumers to purchase eco friendly products Tempo of an advertisement directly affects consumers' likeliness to practice their good  intentions Scale  of an advertisement directly affects consumers' likeliness to practice their good intentions     The article talks about the journey a consumer goes through when listening to certain types of music. Particularly, they talk...

 How Healthy is My Hair Product? I honestly love doing my hair. Making sure I get a product that gets the right texture, shine and hold is essential for me when picking what hair product I use. Right now, I use American Crew Foaming Cream because it smells nice, has medium shine and medium hold. I have heard of the American Crew brand for many years and have used their products before, however, I never looked at the ingredients used to make this product or if it was safe to use. When I decided to take a look, I found it interesting that they do not have the ingredients listed anywhere on the actual product packaging. After doing some basic research, it was still easy to find exactly what is in it. I found out that it is a water-based product, it has lanolin wax, sucrose, PVP polymer and glycerin as their main ingredients. Even though I do not know what most of this means, I want to take a dive into a specific ingredient used to make this product, sucrose.  What is Sucrose? Wh...

Learning about your footprints on the world can be very surprising and intimidating. I did not realize how much of an impact I have on Earth until I analyzed my results from the footprint calculators. This quarter, at Western Washington University, I am taking a marketing sustainability course that allows me to explore more ways to be sustainable. These footprint calculations can really put things in perspective. Not only that, they even give recommendations to reduce your footprint in any way!  Ecological Footprint: When looking at my results they say that my overshoot day would be March 2nd, which means that I would have used all of the resources provided by the Earth and they would not be able to be renewed until the next year. My results show that if everyone lived the same lifestyle that I did, we would need almost 6 Earths. This is higher than the average in the US. Carbon Footprint: When using the carbon footprint calculator and analyzing my results, it says that I use 32 to...