Article
Consumers and Companies Benefit From Transparent Green Marketing
This article outlines results from a study conducted to evaluate how well consumers understand different types of green claims, and how these claims affect willingness to pay. The study demonstrates that consumers are willing to pay more for “green” products but also, that this willingness is affected by trust and transparency in the market.
The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA) conducted a behavioural study to determine how three different types of green claims affect consumer choice of food products, and how consumers perceive the different types of green claims. Furthermore, the study tests the effects of increased transparency by adding a disclaimer to green claims that only refer to specific elements of the product, e.g. the packaging.
The study finds, on the one hand, that different types of green claims affect consumer choice and that the effect broadly tend to mirror the underlying environmental content of the claims.