Sustainability awareness grows amongst consumers

Reinforcing this is the fact that 76% would be prepared to pay a little more for a product or service that was ethical in its social, environmental and general business practices.

The survey was conducted online over a period of seven months and was completed by 800 individual respondents in South Africa. The majority live in either Johannesburg or Cape Town, aged between 26 and 45 years, the main shopper in the household and fall within the LSM 6-10 category.

Other results reveal 92.1% agrees that climate change poses a real threat to how we will live in the future, which is interesting given that 'climate change' ranks 10th in the list of most pressing problems facing the country. What this response does show though is that the respondents are aware of the problem and its negative impact.

Awareness is acute on other issues too:

• 87.9% think that not enough attention is given to the issue of water conservation
  
• 78% would regularly recycle glass, paper and plastic if it were easier to do so
  
• 84% believe that it is important that the products they use should be made from sustainable and renewable sources
  
• 84% agree that companies should let them know more about where their food comes from
  
• 90% want to be shown simple ways to reduce water and electricity consumption
  
• 91% want big brands to keep them up to date with news about the positive contribution they are making in society
  
• 60.9% will buy a product because of the corporate social responsibility (CSI) initiatives that the brand or company is involved in.

It would appear that when it comes to CSI, bragging would serve brands very well.
In terms of understanding what constitutes corporate social responsibility, 82.3% of respondents believe that this should include:

• cleaning up the environment, planting trees, creating food gardens and other similar community environment related project
  
• Reducing pollution from factories
  
• Contributing to social developing - eg supporting schools and literacy programme
  
• Creating job opportunities to help alleviate poverty

Green washing won't wash

Caution is needed when it comes to green washing (using environmental messaging to boost a brand's integrity - genuine or perceived). Asked about environmental messages (green washing), the response was limp. While 36.6% agree that green claims are just another money-spinner and only 18.3% are able to trust a company's green credentials, 38% percent were neutral about green claims being a money-spinner and 40.7% were neutral about whether a company's green credentials could be trusted. The overriding impression from this is that consumers do not know whether they can trust green claims.
Ogilvy Earth's strategist, Melissa Baird says, "This uncertainty is bound to have come from green washing. Companies and brands need to be clear, honest and inspiring in their messaging. For example, planting loads of trees does not make a company green and that is the subtle, yet vital difference.

"Communicating CSI initiatives is separate to communicating a brand or company's journey towards becoming more sustainable. They are not the same messages, although they are often construed as being the same thing."

In terms of where the responsibility lies for addressing the biggest challenges we face in South Africa, 76% believe everyone in society has a role to play with 24% identifying that government and large corporations should address these issues.

More knowledge than supposed

The company is encouraged by the survey results because they reveal that people are more 'in the know' about sustainability issues than was previously assumed. "We shouldn't undermine what people think and know and what we also should not undermine is the potential for companies and brands to become active and powerful change agents while they are addressing their overall footprint and finding ways to innovate and grow in very tough economic conditions. Certainly, there is no room for fooling around with green messages if a company or brand has not actually earned its green credentials. The fact that people are asking for information about the good stuff that companies and brands are doing, is a wonderful opportunity for some of the more modest organisations out there. Better still, this might even translate into a call for action in terms of customer loyalty," continues Baird.

"What's also clear from this survey is that we should not assume that what we do and what we say are not intrinsically linked and highly perceptible by our customers. People are far more 'savvy' than we give them credit for."