Every wondered what on earth a company was talking about when they told you that their technology was green Korea IT Times found out why some people have unusual or confused reactions to some green technologies or in fact the very idea of Green Tech. It is all about individual and group values and perceptions.
Consumers of Green Tech, according to research by expert on 'why consumers buy green,' Diego Alfonso Vazquez of Cardiff University, vary as much as the technologies available vary themselves. Consumers, it seems, have, 'a range of concerns and align themselves with green solutions that fix their particular concerns. '
Not all Green Tech will appeal to you, in fact the concept itself may not, depending on your values, and the bottom line about understanding your 'Green Marketing for technology type' is, according to Diego Alfonso Vazquez, that most companies will align their processes or their product with one or two areas of 'green' that are known to be important to consumers and not necessarily all. At this stage of the game it might not be that companies can please all of the people, all of the time. 'Because most consumers,' Diego said, ' will select one or two aspects of green that they identify with and that suits their lifestyle and this is what motivates them to approve of a company or product and engage or purchase.'
The aspects that we choose from to identify with, are said to be: Organic, fair trade, not packaged, seasonal, natural/recycled, energy efficient and sustainable. Interpreted in the context of technology this means
- Organic = chemistry processes are sound in manufacture,
- Fair trade = manufacturing processes not sweatshop typed or expressing inequalities,
- Not packaged = the technology maybe replaces a paper/plastic need,
- Seasonal = not applicable generally but could be related to agri-tech,
- Natural/recycled = there is a method for disposal e.g. For a battery or component, though this concept is moving into technology materials, design and materials design more and more,
- Energy efficient and sustainable = applicable to manufacturing processes or an ability for a technology to assist with energy efficiency or specified values over a period of time such as the consideration for the long term effects of computer screen viewing when purchasing a glare reducer (on an individual scale).
The really interesting question for Green Tech is, what would a product that meets all of these aspects of 'Green' look like
The list above is not exhaustive and it was said that these are somewhat related. But don't try to analyze your colleagues or family just yet, as it seems that consumers are not so predictable. There are many additional things that we consider such as trust of a source rating the aspects we chose, empowerment that a product or company makes us feel by engaging, which has aspects as well, and so forth. In knowing this, you are still not immune to the marketing departments completely. But there is no need to fret, if anything we should be wary of, it's our skills at screening information, this may only help the manufacturers of Green Tech.
