From boycott to "buy movement" - Environmental awareness changed the market 1999

From boycott to "buy movement" - Environmental awareness changed the market 1999

In the late 1990s, the Japanese consumer movement reached a major turning point: In the 1970s and 1980s, the "boycott movement" functioned as a powerful weapon against environmental destruction and corporate scandals. For example, not buying the products of polluting companies and rejecting products with a large environmental impact were the mainstay of the citizens' movement. However, as the economy entered a period of stagnation after the collapse of the bubble economy, mere "rejection" began to show its limits. Environmental issues became more concretely recognized in daily life, and consumers themselves actively shifted their focus to "how they choose.

Around this time, consumer groups began to create new standards for "selecting and buying environmental products. Items such as recyclability, low environmental impact, safety, and durability were considered the pillars of purchasing decisions, and the concept of the "green consumer" became widespread. Behind this trend was the international debate on global warming countermeasures surrounding the Kyoto Protocol (adopted in 1997), and the growing trend in Japan toward "proposing rather than accusing" environmental conservation. In other words, it was a time when society as a whole began to turn to "how to act.

Naturally, this trend spread to the corporate side as well. A movement to incorporate the environment into management philosophies sprouted, particularly among small and medium-sized companies. However, some managers on the frontlines expressed regret, saying, "In the past, we developed products without taking into account the needs of the market, and we did so in a self-centered manner. They tended to think that if they did something good for the environment, they could sell their products, but they were faced with the reality that the market did not necessarily follow. Eventually, as the standards of buyers and the ingenuity of sellers overlapped, products with high eco-efficiency and products made from recycled materials began to appear one after another.

This "from buying to non-buying" trend led to a significant growth in the environmental business market, and at the time of the 1999 Environmental Business Fair in Tokyo, more than 75 small and medium-sized companies participated, offering a diverse array of environmental products that consumers had come to expect. The awareness of sellers and buyers finally meshed, and the market moved out of its "cradle" phase and into a "growth phase.

Thus, the end of the 1990s was a transitional period from "consumption by refusal" to "consumption by choice and support," and the starting point of the green purchasing movement. The combination of the historical background at the time - economic stagnation, international attention to global environmental issues, and rising consumer awareness - pushed environmental products to the forefront of the market.