Green Businesses It has become a popular trend for businesses to use green consumption as a false attempt to exploit the interest of environmentally conscious consumers. With the growing green trend it is becoming increasingly harder to sort out the true green businesses from the businesses that are using green as a front to draw in customers.
One of the first examples of a company selling items under false pretenses was the Nature Company, which sold scientific and naturalistic gadgets along with third-word crafts. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1973 by Tom and Priscilla Wrubel who were members of the Peace Corps in the 1960s. In 1994 had sold the store to a corporation that specialized in "newer models of consumption targeting 'yuppie' consumers" (Black and Lybecker vol. 2, 133). There are now over 124 stores in the United States and about twenty more worldwide. The niche that the Nature Company has identified with is now part of the mainstream and the American public has "unapologetically mix[ed] consumptive practices with symbols and forms of the natural environment" (Black and Lybecker vol. 2, 133). When the Wrubel's started the Nature Company it was truly environmentally conscious, aimed at like-minded consumers but after it was sold, the costumers stayed the same, growing into an empire that no longer had the same ideals as when it was a small business. |