Environmental issues became part of the marketing agenda in the 1970s and it can
be distinguished between ecological and green/environmental marketing. First,
ecological marketing emerged, owing to the growing recognition of companies’
impact on the environment. However, ecological marketing focused more on
industries which were energy and resource intensive and highly polluting.
Companies were hardly proactive and only reacted to external pressure, with no
technical innovations but rather end-of-pipe solutions. (Emery 2012, 17.)
Subsequently, environmental and green marketing developed almost
simultaneously during the 1980s and 1990s. In contrast to ecological marketing, a
variety of industries started to embrace these marketing concepts. The aim was to
make packaging and products more environmentally-friendly, besides the actual
production process. (Belz & Peattie 2009, 29.)