Green Marketers

The advertising industry started to formalize in the mid-1800s when newspapers hired solicitors to drum up advertisements. By 1865, a new system of advertising was introduced, which was the buying of newspaper advertising space, dividing it up, and then selling it to advertisers at higher prices. Outdoor advertisements on billboards started to gain popularity in the early 1900s. The invention of the radio introduced another medium for advertisers. In 1922, the New York City radio station WEAF sold on-air advertisement slots for different programs. The use of television advertising began just before the end of World War II. Today, the Internet has catapulted the world of advertising into a whole new realm, allowing vendors not only to target and reach customers but to interact with them as well.

Marketing began to take shape as a business discipline when sellers realized that products could be better designed to suit the needs of the specific groups that expressed an interest in those particular products. Identifying potential consumers was recognized as an essential preliminary step before creating an advertising campaign.

The public's awareness of environmental concerns was raised in the 1960s and 1970s, when many environmental regulations were enacted to protect the earth and people's health. Interest in green products and services grew from this and green marketing started to take root in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, green marketers help clients develop advertising or marketing campaigns to sell and promote things such as solar energy systems, environmentally friendly cleaning products, geothermal heating systems, or materials and products that are made from recycled or renewable materials.