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Study: Americans Hate Faux Green Marketers

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While Americans are more than willing to forgive a company with a less-than-perfect environmental track record, 71% say they will stop buying a product if they feel they've been misled about its environmental impact, according to the latest Green Gap Trend Tracker from Cone. And 37% say they are so ticked off by the practice that it's grounds for completely boycotting the company and all its products.

Cone, a Boston-based cause-related marketing firm, says there is also a growing perception that it's tough for a company to get it right every time, with 75% saying it is okay if a given brand isn't environmentally perfect, as long as it's honest and forthcoming about its efforts.

But consumers continue to give marketers poor marks on those communication efforts, with 79% wishing there was more detail on packaging, 75% longing for companies to explain the environmental terms they use, and 59% believing that marketers shouldn't use such claims at all unless they back them up with more details and explanations.

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Cone also reports that consumers continue to misunderstand the most common marketing buzzwords, such as "green" or "environmentally friendly." While 97% think they know what those phrases mean (up from 90% in Cone's 2008 survey), 41% believe these terms mean a product actually has a good or beneficial impact on the environment. Only 29% get that those phrases words mean less harmful than competing products.

Consumers are also suspicious: 57% mistrust green claims.

The survey, which included 1,035 adults, also tested three separate marketing methods, asking customers to "purchase" brands that either bore a mock certification, a vague "made with natural ingredients" claim, or an even vaguer "made with ... imagery" claim.

The certification was by far the most popular, chosen by 51% of respondents, with 51% of all respondents believing the claim was then reviewed and verified by a credible third party.

The study also shows that green concerns survived the recession. Some 39% say they think about the environmental impact of their shopping at least sometimes -- up from 36% in 2008 -- and 23% say they do so regularly (up from 21%. Only 11% say they never think about it, down from 15%. Only 8% say it's on their mind every time they shop (down from 9%.)

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