Products for Conscious Consumers: Developing, Marketing and Selling Ethical Products

Consumers are becoming more conscious of the ethical footprint of the products they buy. In the age of hyper-connectivity and globalisation, numerous consumers are aware of what companies do and how they produce. Thus, sustainability and CSR can no longer be used as "greenwashing" strategies to attract customers and improve a company image. Products for Conscious Consumers is a guide for academics, students and professionals who want to influence responsible consumer behaviour and attain genuine Green Marketing. Written by researchers and marketing professionals, each chapter explores the relationship between the consumer and the marketer, discussing their relative responsibilities towards reaching a sustainable world. Illustrated with real cases, Products for Conscious Consumers helps marketers understand how they can inspire consumers towards more ethical behaviour by educating and nudging their choices using examples from different sectors and world regions to identify factors that influence sustainable consumption, from poverty to personal values. Products for Conscious Consumers guides the reader from ethical product development and marketing plans to eco-friendly production and responsible marketing mix execution, thereby encouraging a sustainable value chain and ethical profitability.

Table of Contents:
PART A. ETHICAL MARKETING Chapter 1: Products for Conscious Consumers – A General Introduction; Vanessa Burgal Chapter 2. Ethical Marketing: Concepts and Reasons; Rehema Kagendo-Kiarie Chapter 3. Ethical Marketing: from Product Ideation to Commercialisation; Adriana Aschl Chapter 4. The Value of Consumer Awareness and Corporate Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Overview; Chibueze Clinton and Sarvjeet Kaur Chatrath PART B. CONSUMER ETHICS Chapter 5. The Relationship Between Marketing and Consumer Choices; Mario di Giulio, Maria Angela Maina, Kimberly Muriethi, Livia Canepa, and Sophie Gai Chapter 6. Dimensions of Conscious Consumption; Julia N. Solovjova, Oksana Yuldasheva, and Olga Konnikova Chapter 7. Nudging and Boosting towards Sustainable Food Choices – A Systematic Literature Review of Cognitively Oriented Measures; Julia Winterstein PART C. ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING Chapter 8. Considering the Short-term and Long-term Impact of Products and Services on the Planet; Okechukwu Amah and Segun Jones Chapter 9. Marketing Sustainability – A Critical Consideration of Environmental Marketing Strategies; Madhavi Venkatesan Chapter 10. CSR: A Business Gimmick?; Fadwa Chaker PART D. MARKETING FOR SOCIETY Chapter 11. Ethical New Product Development: A Case of Digital Loans Products in Kenya; Thaisaiyi Zephania Opati Chapter 12. Developing Good Goods and Services that Serve the Consumer; James Ngugi Njuguna Chapter 13. Learning as We Go: Responsibility, Sustainability, and the Marketing Function; Kemi Ogunyemi

About the Author :
Kemi Ogunyemi, Associate Professor, holds a degree in Law from the University of Ibadan, an LLM from University of Strathclyde, and MBA and PhD degrees from Pan-Atlantic University. She teaches business ethics, managerial anthropology, self-leadership, and sustainability at Lagos Business School. She is also the director of Christopher Kolade Centre for Research in Leadership and Ethics. Vanessa Burgal is a Faculty from the Marketing department at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. She earned her bachelor’s degree and MBA from ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. She also has the CEMS Master from HEC Business School in Paris, France. Prior to her academic career, she worked in Global Marketing positions for Heineken International, Coca-Cola and Mars, among others. She is specialised in consumer-packaged goods brand management, market research and category management.

Review :
In the face of grand challenges like climate change and the urgent need to reform unethical supply chains, it is easy to forget that it is not only firms that need to change but consumers as well. Calling for more attention to ethical marketing, Products for Conscious Consumers provides a timely new perspective that is comprehensive in scope and packed with practical examples. It deserves to be widely read. The question of responsibility runs deep in “Products for Conscious Consumers”. Should marketers’ responsibility go beyond the sale of a product and include the awareness of and the response to its social and environmental impact?. At the same time, in a “pull marketing” era, shouldn´t consumers, who decide what to shop and recommend, think twice before buying?. This book is rife with insights, practical examples and food for thought on how the marketing function, and the role of marketers, should evolve as we face fundamental challenges. On a different note, it will also help companies reflect on how to best organize themselves, as in many cases the responsibility for driving sustainable development still sits in organizational areas other than marketing. I truly enjoyed reading Products for Conscious Consumers. The multiple corporate examples provided, coupled with the cry for attention on the need for ethical marketing, make it a thought provoking lecture. The complexity of the climate crisis requires all stakeholders to contribute to finding solutions and this book is a great tool to develop calls to action as only a joint effort may yield results.