Consumers Getting Skeptical on Green Products
July 31, 2008
Back to News Home
A recent survey has shown a worrying decrease in the number of respondents that are willing to pay more for green products. This could represent the general public becoming more skeptical of companies that profess to help you cut your carbon footprint, but are mostly just trying to make a few extra bucks without any actual improvement for the environment.
The survey found that 44% of respondents were willing to pay a higher price for eco-friendly products. While this is a substantial portion of society, it is a drop from a year ago, when the figure was 59%.
The same survey showed that 69% of people are concerned about global warming and are looking for ways to cut their carbon footprint.
These results could mean a few different things. The positive side is that so many people are still willing to pay more for products that help fight global warming, even if the total is a decrease from last year.
Conversely, the decrease could be that consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical of companies that claim to offer ‘green’ products. It seems that a new multinational offers a new eco friendly product every day, but rarely provides the backup information to prove it.
Alternatively, it could be a sign that consumers are put off from spending more on green products to cut their carbon footprint because environmental extremists have put them off the idea.
What is particularly worrying is the discrepancy between the 69% of people who want to reduce their carbon footprint, compared to the 44% of people that are actually willing to pay for it. This sounds eerily familiar to many companies and governments who want to fight global warming but are not willing to make any real sacrifices to do so.
One positive explanation could be that with more green products available at lower prices, people do not see the need to spend extra money on green products to cut their carbon footprint when they can get the same results in other areas for the same prices. This is certainly true of some products, especially when you consider their lifetime costs, such as light bulbs or hybrids cars which may cost more in the initial outlay, but end up cheaper in the long run and have a big impact on your carbon footprint.
Share This Story: |