Green barely glimmers in Indonesia
Report By Nancy Chng
ENVIRONMENT-RELATED MARKETING IS not yet seen much in Indonesia. With a population of 180 million, expressions of environmental concern in this sprawling archipelago are beginning to be made, but generally focus on forcing the government to act in controlling water pollution, noxious vehicle exhaust, deforestation and waste disposal. Virtually no-one is marketing products to green-conscious consumers because few such consumers exist.
"Green marketing hasn’t taken off here like in Europe or the US," says technical advisor with Indo-Ad/Ogilvy & Mather, Greg Stern. "Compared with other basic concerns, it’s not a high priority."
Indo-Ad created one of the first advertisements to address environmental concerns directly earlier this year. The client, SC Johnson, manufacturer of cleaners, insecticides, polishes and air fresheners, commissioned the ad to commemorate Earth Day on April 22 and World Environment Day on June 5. The print ad shows two young girls standing on barren, cracked earth, with the caption: "Mother, who left this kind of world for us?" Copy in the ad says SC Johnson has been doing its bit to help maintain the ozone layer by omitting CFCs from its aerosol products since 1975. The ad was placed In major newspapers and women’s magazines such as Femina, Kartini and Sorinah, as well as news weekly Tempo.
There is general consensus among members of Indonesia’s advertising community that quality and cost, not concern for the environment, continue to dominate consumer choice in Indonesia. "The packaging of products from recycled material, or ozone-friendly stuff isn’t so important [to consumers here]. At the moment they're not the major inducement to buy," says Stern.
"People are just not aware of product packaging recycling," says president-director of Perwanal/DMB&B, Yusca Ismail. He believes the government will have to take the leading role to enforce environmental regulations and to educate the population on ecological issues.
As president of the Association of Indonesian Advertising Agencies, lsmail laments the lack of collective drive by the industry in promoting green-awareness. "Right now, we’re busy with our own interests," he says. But glimmers of environmental action by companies are beginning to be seen. One of his clients, Anker Bir, recently started marketing beer in aluminium cans rather than tin.
A handful of Indonesian companies have embarked on projects for preserving the environment. Bank International Indonesia, for example, sets aside US$13 for each credit card it issues to a fund for the preservation of the near-extinct Javan rhino. In a June Newsweek supplement, the group’s chairman maintains BlI was the first company in Indonesia to carry out green marketing in its promotional programme.
Several top executives of Matari, the agency which put together the 24-page supplement, are personally involved with an environmental group, Dana Mitra Lingkungan (Friend of the Environment Fund). The agency approaches clients to sponsor projects such as river clean—ups, recycling of tin cans or building public toilets, says agency staffer Ignatius Khomasurya. The agency is currently working on a supplement for the English-language Jakarta Post featuring companies which have started environmental protection projects.
Source : Asian Advertising & Marketing, September, 1991
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