3BL Blog

Among the things one can’t avoid noticing after living in North America for more than two years is the bizarre use of the ‘S-word’. It recently keeps popping up in the context of health care reform in the US but it also rears its allegedly ugly head in many other contexts.

Since the 1960s, most notably promoted by Ronald Reagan, the term ‘socialized medicine’ has been used as a scarecrow to denunciate any other approaches to healthcare than the private system the US has had in most places. Other systems, such as the Canadian or the British or the French, by being branded ‘socialist...

While some corporate leaders have been well meaning advocates for corporate social responsibility, early adopters have been concerned that CSR will only catch on in a serious way if we can prove its value to the financial bottom line. In a measurement outcome model I developed and published in 1996 and again in 2005, I cautioned...

The ImagePower Green Brands Survey 2009, co-produced by Cohn & Wolfe, Landor Associates, and Penn, Schoen & Berland, reports the attitudes of over 5,000 consumers from seven countries toward a variety of green issues.

The report offers insight into what consumers feel makes a green corporation stand out, their perceptions of brands, and where their spending is going in the next year. A global attitude toward green issues is painted by the data. Apparently the U.S., though its heart may be green, is more focused on the greenback.

The United States tops the list of countries where economic concerns overshadow environmental ones. The 17% of U.S. consumers more concerned about the environment than the economy stand out in stark comparison to Brazil's 62% and India's 53%. Economic concern is mirrored in the top reason given for not purchasing green products and services – 64% of those in the U.S. consider these too expensive. (Consumers in other countries feel more limited by the availability.) The U.S. consumer does plan to spend more on these products and services over the next year – at least 39% of those surveyed do. However, the extent to which they plan to raise their spending places them at best in the middle of the seven countries surveyed. This is not to say that U.S. consumers don't feel that being green is important, they do, just not as much as consumers elsewhere.