• Marketplace, Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:57 AM

People don't just buy green products to save the planet, Andrea Gardner reports, and this reality is beginning to sink in with the marketers who sell them. (She herself buys organic apple juice because she thinks it's healthier for her child and her yoga teacher admits on air, "My priority is really just my family and their health.")

Green marketing pioneer Seventh Generation is taking the risk of alienating the most ardent eco-consumers -- known as "dark greens" -- with a campaign targeted to new moms that ends with the tagline "Protecting Planet Home. One dark green admits to some uneasiness over the eco message becoming "trivialized" as it becomes "commercialized," but she also sees a bright side -- at least the message about the overabundance of trash and toxins in our environment is getting out.

Consultant Jacqueline Ottman offers this advice to green marketers: "Leave the planets and the daisies behind, and find the direct benefits that their products can support, such as health, superior performance, good taste, saving money, or even convenience. And then, the environment is a nice add-on benefit."

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