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Jacquelyn Ottman Urges Business Leaders To Adopt More Responsible Green Marketing Strategies |
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK, Oct. 13 -/E-Wire/--
On Thursday, September 27, Jacquelyn Ottman, green marketing pioneer and author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation used her keynote address to the Sustainable Brands '07 conference, New Orleans, as a voice of warning to conference attendees for potential regulation of deceptive green marketing practices and bans on polluting products.
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In a speech in which she recapped 20 years of green marketing, she challenged her audience to consider whether any real progress has been made. The FTC's green marketing guidelines now exist. Businesses know to spotlight primary benefits in their green messages. Empowerment has become a focal point for the Energy Star label and HSBC Bank's "There's No Small Change" campaign. BP, with a deadly fire at its Texas refinery and oil spills in the Artic, has learned the necessity of "walking its talk."
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However, as demonstrated by the Kermit the Frog ad asserting "It's Easy Being Green" for Ford's Escape SUV hybrid or the now defunct Biota Co.'s use of a "biodegradable" claim for corn-based bottles destined for landfills, the marketing community has generally not learned from past green marketing debacles and risks strict regulations in the future.
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Ottman, a sought-after speaker who has advised 60 of the Fortune 500, warned about the potential for bans on ads for polluting products like SUVs, bottled water, and disposable diapers. Ottman cautioned that the growing number of eco-labels may result in consumer confusion, and noted that Congress has already held hearings on the now unregulated and often misleading practice of carbon offsets.
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Ottman told conference goers, "We need to pursue a course of sustainable branding that is rooted in aligned values, engaged employees, and communication with stakeholders and the public." Noting that by 2025, China is expected to be the largest car market in the world - with its attendant greenhouse gas emissions - and that 1/3rd of the world's people will live in a water-starved area, Ottman urged her audience to follow a course of eco-innovation with the potential to create the next generation of products and services with significantly reduced environmental impacts. Such products, Ottman noted, represent the prospect of significantly enhanced customer benefits and as such, don't need to be promoted through green marketing claims or Kermit the Frog.
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For more on the Sustainable Brands '07 Conference visit www.sustainablebrands07.com
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For more on Jacquelyn Ottman and her firm visit www.greenmarketing.com
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For a more detailed summary of her remarks, email info@greenmarketing.com Contact Info:
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Kyle Weatherholtz
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E-mail : kweatherholtz@greenmarketing.com
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Tel : 212-879-4160 Website : J. Ottman Consulting
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