If you take the long view, social responsibility and sustainability are an imperative for all our future economic activity. The truth about the alternative is becoming increasingly evident and incredibly alarming. In the short term however, the reality is that most consumer product companies are unable to immediately make the changes necessary to fully transition into new and better practices. They either don’t know what to do or the logistical and cost implications are prohibitive. Workable, affordable solutions for sustainable sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and so on are still largely a work in progress, as are the services that would support businesses in making the transition.
Most companies understand the importance of change but face obstacles in execution. This is inevitable and will be resolved over time. The problem is that an eco-elitist atmosphere around the issue of change creates an all or nothing reward system that recognizes grandiose gestures but ignores the slower, more incremental reform that is the only realistic option for most companies. This may seem like a pretty small complaint in the overall landscape of eco-reform but I think the implications are pretty huge.
Many companies are understandably intimidated by reform in the absence of sustainable alternatives that fit their cost and revenue requirements. The danger here is that rather than think about what they can do, they focus on what they can’t and decide that this revolution is not for them. They do nothing rather than coming up with the something that they can manage today. Even worse, they fail to embrace the corporate mindset that commits them to change moving forward. That’s a terrible waste of the low hanging fruit of sustainability that most businesses could and would do if they were rewarded for it.
Another outcome of not recognizing and rewarding incremental change is green-washing. Social responsibility and sustainability are amongst the most powerful brand attributes a consumer product can carry in today’s marketplace. Setting the bar to high for access to this kind of brand equity is a mistake because it makes misleading marketing more beneficial than meaningful change. If companies knew that their brands could benefit from a reasonable, good faith effort to get on board with a slower but steady transition to sustainability then it is likely that they would do more to change. This is what I call “Eco-Something”. It may not seem like much but it’s better than nothing and all business should be rewarded for taking this first step towards sustainability.
This is the thinking behind Good Citizen Brands. The basic premise is that in every business there are, be they large or small, opportunities to reform. By taking advantage of those opportunities and committing to greater awareness and an ongoing process of transition into sustainability, a company should be able to distinguish itself as a Good Citizen Brand with the associated brand equity and competitive advantage. Do what you can today and keep changing until you get there. If this seems like setting the bar too low, think back to your first consciously green purchase. It probably coincided with you redefining yourself as green but, just as probably, didn’t catapult you into an entirely transformed and sustainable lifestyle. If eco-reform is going to be more than a marketing narrative between businesses and consumers then business must be judged, labeled and rewarded for incremental change in the same way that consumers are. Those market forces will provide a greater impetus for change than even the scariest of inconvenient truths.
