Battling green noise | theage.com.au

But there is evidence to suggest that all this green noise is leading to green fatigue — everybody is just getting a little bit eco-exhausted.

In a recent survey conducted by the Shelton Group, a Texas-based ad agency, 49% of US consumers said the environment was an important consideration when they purchased a product. But only 21% said that environmental considerations had led them to choose one product over another.

That's right — less than half of the people who said the environment was a significant factor when choosing products had ever chosen a product because it was better for the environment.

So either a quarter of consumers are deliberately choosing the most environmentally damaging product in a manic desire to destroy Mother Nature, or people are just buying what suits their needs — environment be damned.

And the survey found that in 2007, 20% fewer consumers deliberately bought an environmentally friendly product than in 2006. Consumers seem to be figuring out that most eco-friendly claims are just a lot of marketing bluster.