Global E-waste: Unintended Consequences of Marketing Strategies Necessitates A Plan for Change

The global community is in the midst of an environmental crisis of which many consumers and business leaders are not aware. The crisis is steadily worsening because of the convergence of consumers' lifestyle choices to seek immediate gratification and companies practices to feed that demand through the rapid design, production, marketing, and delivery of products. The crisis worsens daily with the generation of tons of new electronic products and at the behest of marketers, consumers replace the old (but functioning) with new. Electronic waste (e-waste) is often toxic, containing chemicals and metals that are not being disposed of in an environmentally safe or sustainable way. Marketers are further deepening the e-waste problem by planned obsolescence and incremental innovations. This paper explores the e-waste crisis through a producer and marketer's lens and provides alternative strategies for turning this environmental crisis into business opportunities in line with sustainability theory. The authors urge for planned purchasing and sustainable product design and support rather than planned obsolescence as marketers search to act consistent with the American Marketing Association's ethical principle of "do no harm." The authors propose a research approach to explore how marketers can best modify key marketing practices to lessen e-waste.