I have always wondered if green products would survive in a time of distress or slow economic climate. Would companies be faithful to staying green? The answer hasn’t been fully developed but it seems clear that the answer is no. Yes there are plenty of companies that still make the effort to stay green, but what will happen when prices or budgets decline. In my opinion going green will be put on chopping block.

You can call me a pessimist if you like but I do not have faith in our business society to push environmentally friendly products during economic downturns. All though green living lifestyle has been around, the major marketing push or product developments are fairly new to the mainstream society. Many companies are not built around these products and will cut productions to help save money.

I have already seen the beginning stages of this happen. I work in the exhibiting industry and the demand for green exhibiting has grown a lot over last two years. Many clients have been asking for greener products until recently. Why you ask, the market has slowed but production costs and materials for green trade show displays cost more. Hence in general most companies are not willing to spend the extra money for greener products.

I know the exhibit industry is only a small sample size compared to the whole economy but this could be a sad indicator that the green living fad has ran its course.