Marketing Briefing: Why sustainability is ‘not a priority’ for marketers right now

When it comes to sustainability efforts, marketers have gotten quieter as of late. 

Throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, there was a focus on brand purpose in marketing. There was a popular belief that brands had to stand for something beyond what they were selling. Consumers, especially those desirable young Gen-Z consumers, supposedly wanted more from brands. So that had marketers touting their sustainability efforts in advertising — with many likely inspired by Patagonia’s famous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” Black Friday ad from 2011 — and making public commitments to do better. The thought at the time seemed to be that doing so would not only give a sheen of doing good to their brands but would potentially help drive growth at the same time. 

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