Co-Op America, one of the groups I’ve belonged to for the last three years, announced last week that they’re changing their name to “Green America.” According to the organization:

When our founders chose the name Co-op America for this mission 25 years ago, before the language of ‘green’ emerged, cooperation seemed to be the way to express the deep, holistic ideas for the shift our society needed to make.

The name turned out to be a mixed blessing. While our members understand it and feel connected to our name, those who don’t know us are often confused by the name, thinking that we are a food or housing cooperative. But our mission is exactly the right one – and the work of our organization has changed – and will continue to change – the way America does business.

Fair enough. The term “Co-Op” does bring to mind food co-ops, farm shares, and hippies. All good things, but not necessarily indicative of what the organization does: aligning consumers with companies that do business ethically, and alerting them to those that don’t.

That said, “Green America?” Aside from the fact that it’s completely generic, the term “green” has so many competing connotations these days that the minute you say it, the average person will still be confused. What does “green” mean, exactly? The statement even mentions this, if in a haphazard way:

We’ve won the first round.  The rest of the country is convinced that they have to go green. But even with all the green talk, most people and businesses are just getting started.   People finally get that they need to look beyond the bottom line.  So now let’s make sure that we define what that means.  Together, let’s make sure that it is the full, deep, holistic, inclusive vision of green.  Let’s define and own green – and get everyone involved.  Hence Green America.  Let’s step into our full power.

My other issue with the use of “Green America” is that it downplays all the other work that Co-Op America does in favor of the ubiquitous “green” buzzword, usually used to convey “good for the environment.” As in “change your lightbulbs.” As in “this phrase is meaningless and marketing-driven.”

I’m all for a name-change if it’s warranted; but if you’re going to take a leap that big, at least make sure it’s worth it.

According to a recent post on the Cone blog (which I discovered through the truly awesome Selfish Giving blog run by Joe Waters), recent Duke University research suggests that Cause/Green Marketing is being given lower priority by marketers as the economy goes sour. 

According to the survey, “marketing that is ‘beneficial for society’ or that minimizes the impact on the environment” ranked slightly below three other more pressing priorities, including developing consumer insights, sharing marketing knowledge and preparing for crises. 

I suppose that’s one way to look at it; after all, once the economy starts to suffer, one of the first things (tragically) that businesses tend to cut is their marketing spending. And certainly, it’s important to know your customer, and to be prepped for whatever crisis may arise.

But one of the interesting things I’ve observed about this economy is that, with less discretionary income, consumers are starting to make more careful choices about what they buy. Sure, they’re looking for stuff that’s cheaper, but they’re also looking for stuff that’s better - and they’re looking for products that have that “warm, fuzzy” appeal to them. The green products, the organic and fairly traded products, the brands that do more in the community. So why ease up on that during an economic downturn when it could be one of your brand’s most powerful assets? As the post points out:

Cause continues to be a value-add that differentiates companies and brands and, as a quote in Ad Age explains, cause marketing “is still what will get the news…  Your coupon isn’t something reporters or the ‘Today’ show are going to want to talk about.” 

To read the whole post, visit the Cone Blog.

My friend Jess Sand over at Roughstock Studios just posted a great article on her blog in which she shares exactly how I feel about the new “High Fructose Corn Syrup is perfectly fine” ads, which have been making me cringe for weeks.

I’ll be honest - there’s so much wrong with this I have no words. So read Jess’s. They’re better than anything I could come up with.