• by August 2, 2007

Green is today's media darling. Newspaper headlines and magazine covers trumpet the new environmentalism. Hollywood stars compete over the earnestness of their environmental sentiments. Green-minded business leaders are newly minted pop idols. The state of the environment is the talk of the town.

Environmental activists now wield unprecedented influence over the public agenda. Concerned scientists have the ear of global leaders worried about the social and economic consequences of global warming. Countries around the world are adopting stricter environmental regulations. Even the Bush administration, long resistant to the global call for restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions, has reversed its stance.

As a result, corporations see that environmental friendliness will be central to commercial enterprise in the future. It's not just a matter of responding to pressure, it's good business, too. Wal-Mart, for example, has discovered that more efficient resource use is as green for the bottom line as it is for the environment.

But it's not because consumers are demanding it.

In fact, consumers overall aren't nearly as environmentally conscious as groups like scientists, world leaders, or even corporations like Wal-Mart. Gallup's annual survey of environmental attitudes continues to find that most (70 percent) report sympathy for or active involvement with the environmental movement, but when asked about specific environmental problems, only polluted drinking water was a concern to a solid majority (58 percent). All other problems were a concern for half or less. A New York Times poll found that despite a widespread belief that "immediate" action was needed to deal with global warming, nearly half of respondents said the position of a presidential candidate on fuel usage would not affect their vote.

A recent Yankelovich survey, "Going Green," found only 45 percent of respondents agreed today's environmental problems are "severe." A mere 37 percent were "highly concerned" about the environment. Just 22 percent said they believed they can "make a difference" when it comes to the environment.

While most people have moderate concerns about the environment, there are significant numbers at either extreme. In the Yankelovich survey, nearly 13 percent of respondents were highly concerned. Of them, 84 percent said the problems are severe. On the other hand, a group more than double the size of the highly concerned group - nearly 29 percent - were almost completely unconcerned. Among them, only 13 percent said the problems are severe.

The media communications challenge for marketers is unique. Instead of following consumer demand, marketers are being compelled to lead it. Other pressures will force companies to be greener, so to manage their competitiveness and margins, companies will have to make consumers greener, too. Otherwise, consumers won't be willing to pay more or alter their lifestyles. To avoid being stuck in this bind, marketers must refashion, not simply react to, consumer demand.

However, the task for marketers is more than changing attitudes. The task is to change behaviors. Media strategies - whether they use new or traditional media - are based upon the assumption that changing attitudes through persuasion is the best way to change behaviors. Many decades of study and experimentation by social psychologists have shown that more often than not, people develop attitudes in order to be consistent with their behavior, not the other way around.

Indeed, when it comes to green, changing attitudes is an incidental benefit. The essential goal is to get people to act green, whether they think green or not. In a political and economic environment that is forcing companies to become more ecologically friendly, marketers need green consumers.

Yet marketing may not be up to this challenge. Behavioral mandates like regulation and taxes may be more of what's needed - something that will force corporations and government to work together on issues that have historically kept them apart. And it will force marketers to recognize that green is not an attitude. It is an imperative that demands something more than advertising in the same old way.