ECOLOGICAL CRITERIA IN THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL-ETHICAL MARKETING

The article analyses the problem of setting the ecological criterion in social-ethical marketing. The main levels of ecological evaluation are defined as essential elements of the social-ethical marketing concept, the criteria of ecological evaluation are highlighted in these levels and limits are set for the ecological evaluation in the context of corporate social responsibility. The determined criterion for the ecological evaluation in different levels in the context of social ethical marketing becomes the target of practical argumentation.


Introduction
At the global level the impacts of human economic activity on the ecosystems are obvious: the greenhouse effect, acid rain etc. When ecosystems are irreversibly damaged, their components (species) die. Human beings are also a part of nature. But they destroy the foundation of their existence -the natural environment -through economic activity and consumption. The consequences of human economic activity and consumption do not disappear -they return to nature in the form of pollution, waste, garbage etc. The environment is incapable of restoring the natural balance and removing all the materials created in the process of human economic activity and consumption, which destroy the natural ecosystem. Thus the condition of the ecological environment becomes the responsibility of society, not only of the individual.
It is hard to imagine the long-term welfare of society without a clean environment (air, water, soil), and the natural resources of the earth. The concept of social-ethical marketing distinguishes corporate social responsibility from the consumer and welfare of society. What must a company do in order to minimize the amount of waste materials in nature after the processes of economic activities and consumption, i. e. to ensure that the ecological condition of the environment after these processes does not become worse and / or remain unchanged? What ecological criteria must a company follow in making decisions about manufacturing a product, as well as the consumer and society in making decisions about consumption in order to decrease the impact on the natural environment? This is the main issue of this article. This is a broad and complicated question, to which answers are sought in the modern world of know-ledge and information in the humanities, social, technical and other sciences. The idea of a stable development has encouraged solutions from various approaches, especially from the environmental sciences.
From the contemporary view of marketing, meeting customer needs and the environment are of great importance for the company in making decisions about manufacturing a product. During the last decades the relation between marketing and the environment has become an especially relevant issue for researchers in marketing and science (Ottman 1993;Peatie 1992;Coddington 1993;Fuller&Butler 1994 etc.).
The goal of this article is to determine the criteria of ecological evaluation in the concept of social-ethical marketing. This will be done in the following ways: • By determining the criteria for ecological evaluation; • By defining the main criteria / elements of the social-ethical marketing concept; • By highlighting the criteria of ecological evaluation in the different levels of social-ethical marketing; • By defining the limits of ecological evaluation in the context of corporate social responsibility.
Methods of the study: analysis and overview of the literature, comparative methods.

Ecological Criteria in the Concept of Social-Ethical Marketing
It is difficult to determine the criteria ofthe ecological evaluation in social-ethical marketing because, according to A. Macfadyen, in discussing the ecological criterion, it is first necessary to set limits of ecology because "ecology is multidisciplinary and almost boundless." On the other hand, agreement on the nature and scope of social responsibility is often difficult to achie-148 ve, given the diversity of values present in diffe· rent societal, business, and organizational cultures. Thus, it is important to determine the criteria for ecological evaluation, to derme the concept of social-ethical marketing from different points of view and to determine the main elements of ecological evaluation.
The term "ecology" comes from the Greek language: oikos -home, place, and logosscience. German biologist Ernest Henkel in 1866 was the first to use this term to describe the biological discipline that studies the relationship between living organisms and the environment. Today the term "ecology" is used widely and with different meanings, sometimes very obscurely, and has been ascribed an almost mysterious meaning. Of course, such free application of the term is not good. On the other hand, it reflects that the relationship between a human being and nature has become very complicated, and it is no wonder that the term, which expresses the essence of these relations, has become a phenomenon of mass consciousness. Professor Ceslovas Kudaba states: "Today ecology as a word is as capacious as ever. With this perception we are called to defend, save, protect the material, animate environment < ... >" (Kalenda 1993). This situation also explains the concept of ecological criteria because the problem always arises of determining and defining the ecological criteria where man actively interacts with something and causes processes (economic activity and consumption) that impact upon the condition of environment.
Hence, in this article the ecological criteria are viewed as the evaluation of the impact of human economic activity and consumption on the natural environment (ecosystems).
The  (2000), ~ept of social-ethical marketing is hilosophy that is differently defirent authors. The comparison of ces in the literature (see Table 1) :here is no common name for this concept. The abundance of terms for this concept -orientation of social marketing, social marketing, the concept of social marketing, the expanded concept of marketing etc., does not distort the main essence of this concept -it is an expanded concept of marketing that includes corporate social responsibility.
In summarizing different concepts of socialethical marketing of different authors, I would suggest that this concept focuses on corporate Societal marketing concept -idea that an organization exists not only to satisfy customer wants and needs and to meet organizational objectives but also to preserve or enhance the individuals' and society's long-term best interests.
A firm that sufficiently extends the breadth and time dimensions of its marketing goals to fulfill its social responsibility is practicing what has become known as the societal marketing concept. Breadth is extended as a company recognizes that its market includes not only the buyers of its products but also anyone directly affected by its operations. Extending the time dimension of its marketing goals means that a firm should take a long-term view of customer satisfaction and performance objectives, rather than concentrating only on tomorrow. For a company to prosper in the long run, it must satisfy its customers' social needs as well as their economic needs. Societal marketing concept -the idea that the organization should determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that maintains or improves the consumer and society's well bein2.

Philosophy of Business and its Orientation
The The societal marketing concept holds that the organization's task is to determine consumers' wants and long term interests, a company's requirements and society's long-term interests. Societal marketing -a company makes marketing decisions by considering consumers' wants and long term interests, a company's requirements and society's long-term interests.
The societal marketing orientation is business orientation, that an organization should discover and satisfy the needs of its consumers in a way that also provides for society's well being.
The societal marketing concept holds that the organization's task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors. Additionally, it holds that this all must be done in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer's and the society's well being.
The societal marketing concept holds that the organizations task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more eITectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumers and the societies well being.
The existence of external costs and benefits and the presence of multiple stakeholders in an organization emphasize the need for firms to act in a socially responsible way. The societal marketing concept embodies a higher and more enlightened plane of marketing thought and practice and suggests that this new concept represents an attempt to harmonize the goals of business to the occasionally conflicting goals of society. As such, it postulates that the organization's task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more eITectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer's and society's well-beine:.

social responsibility when the company's marketing tasks are measured in such a way that the needs of the company and consumer do not have a negative impact on society's wealth.
It is notable that corporate social responsibility includes three elements / levels: the consumer, the public and the company itself.
The Ecological Criterion and its Limits from the View of Corporate Social Responsibility All these elements of corporate social responsibility have different objectives: the consumer seeks to meet his needs and wants, the company's goal is to work profitably, and society seeks quality of life and welfare. So, the concept of social-ethical marketing and corporate social responsibility involves three elements / levels with different objectives (Figure 1).
Having defined three elements of the concept of social responsibility as well as determined their objectives and trying to set the limits of the ecological criterion, I distinguish these presumptions: 1. The consumer's main goal is his welfare, which depends on the level of satisfaction of his wants and needs. Society's main objective is public wealth, which is determi- ned by long-term benefit, responsibility and the quality of life. 2. The company's main objective, the essence of its existence is profit, which is transformed from the company's objectives and tasks.
The objectives of the three main elements of the concept of social-ethical marketing differ, thus a manager considering and implementing corporate social responsibility has to strive for long-term reconciliation of (1) satisfaction of the product buyers' needs, (2) satisfaction of social needs of others involved in the company's practice, and (3) achievement of the company's objectives. The fulfiIlment of these conflicting goals calls for the company's balance, and often managers face ethical puzzles.
Society, as an element of the concept of social-ethical marketing, emphasizes social responsibility of marketing not only in meeting consumers' needs, but also in public welfare provision (without detriment to it). Social responsibility means that organizations are part of the larger society and are accountable to that society for their actions. Like ethics, agreement on the nature and scope of social responsibility is often difficult to attain, given the diversity of values present in different societal, business, and organizational cultures. The concept of social responsibility Berkowitz et al (1992) (Figure 2) was chosen as the baseline of the ecological criterion for society as the element of the concept of social-ethical marketing. The heart of this concept includes owners / stockholders, suppliers / distributors and public interest groups' levels of responsibilities: maximize profits for their owners or stockholders. This view is expressed by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, who said, "There is one and only one social responsibility of business -to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud (Sommers et aI1995)." Stakeholder Responsibility. Frequent criticism of the profit view has led to a broader concept of social responsibility. Stakeholder responsibility focuses on the obligations an organization has to those who can affect achievement of its objectives. These constituencies include consumers, employees, suppliers, and distributors. "Source Perrier S. A., the supplier of Perrier bottled water, exercised this responsibility when it recalled 160 million bottles of water in 120 countries after traces of a toxic chemical were found in 13 bottles. The recall cost the company 35 million $, and 40 million $ more was lost in sales. Even though the chemical level was not hannful to humans, Source Perrier's president believed he acted in the best interests of the finn's consumers, distributors, and employees by removing the least doubt, as minimal as it might be, to weigh on 152 the image of the quality and purity of our product (Sommers et aI1995)." Societal Responsibility. This concept is rather new. Societal responsibility addresses organizational obligations to protect (1) the ecological environment (ecosystems) and (2) the general public. Environmental and public welfare interests are represented and protected by such groups as Green Peace, the International Environment Organization etc.
So, according to the concept of social-ethical marketing, efforts to achieve the main objective of society -its welfare, should be targeted at the company's obligation to protect the ecological environment in producing environment-friendly products. Again, there is the problem of defining limits of societal responsibility from the marketing view, i. e. understanding the "company's obligation to protect the ecological environment while producing environment-friendly products." Does the expression "producing environment-friendly products" involve the production process and its relation to the ecological environment or the end result of production -the product, and its relation to the environment? This may be partly explained with reference to environment management and the marketing sciences. The environment management context focuses more on the production process itself and its management, on various intermediate elements formed in different stages of production, as well as on their impact on the environment.
Meanwhile, the marketing science context focuses more on the product as the result of the production process that is produced in order to meet consumer needs. This explanation is understandable in light of the two sciences, but in putting it into practice the company professional faces an indecision of marketing, namely with respect to this question, because the marketing professional is faced with too much responsibility toward society. If, according to the theories, the area of his responsibility is a result of the production process -the product and its relation to the ecological environment, then he is the employee in the company who is responsible for the work of designers, managers and other professionals, for the created product that becomes a commodity in the market. This is natural, if the marketing professional is responsible for the "product's relation to environment," and he has to contribute being directly or indirectly involved not only in the production process itself but also in the "generation of the product," i. e. in the stage of product idea creation.
Consequently, it is purposeless to define limits of marketing from the ecological point of view, including only the end result of the production process -the product, and its relation to environment. And the phrase "company's obligation to protect the ecological environment while producing environment-friendly products," from the marketing view, both in theory and practice, should cover the whole product life cycle -from identifying what products and services should be developed, including decisions about the product design, packaging, prices, advertising, transporting and the selling policy, i. e. from the creation of the product to the end disposal. Therefore, from the marketing point of view, limits of the ecological criterion against the public are set from the creation of the product to its end disposal -expulsion.
Societal responsibility is one of factors contributing to the wealth of society. This was defined above together with the three elements of the concept of social-ethical marketing, their objectives and the recognized presumptions for the limits of the ecological criterion, which means that the main objective of society is its wealth, growing out of interests, responsibility and the quality of life. Now we will take a broader look at the wealth of society within the context of the quality if life.

Wealth of Society -Quality of Societal Life
Society's objective in social-ethical marketing is wealth, which is an outgrowth of improved quality of life, and this in turn is referred to as quality and quantity of goods in marketing. According to Philip Kotler, social marketing aims at effecting one or more people in selected social groups so that the ideas and behaviors of these people would be developed and influenced. Social marketing attempts to understand a selected segment and researches it by studying its social and demographical rates including economical status, education, age etc. Psychosocial characteristics -attitudes, motivation, behavior fashion, and needs, are also ana-Iyzed. Every business must consider these factors and match its marketing strategies with the cultural and religious virtues of selected segments.
The other element of the concept of social-ethical marketing is the company whose point of action is profit by pursuing appropriate objectives. The most important task for the company is to provide desirable satisfac-tion for consumers (for commercial-profit purposes), which would preserve or increase the wealth of consumers or society while implementing ecological marketing. An example of the concept of social marketing implementation is the recent decision of the McDonald's corporation to replace plastic cups that are not biodegradable with paper cups.
The concept of social-ethical marketing is concerned with what the organization legitimately has to do or what it is obliged to do according to appropriate industrial practices and codes of ethics. Social-ethical marketing prevails when the business marketing decisions correspond to consumer wants or long-term interests, including the long-term requirements of society and the company. Here we meet with the third element of the concept of socialethical marketing -the consumer.
Marketing is an activity oriented toward the consumer. The nature of marketing and its function is to be exclusively oriented towards sales and profit.
Thus many marketing professionals think of the consumer as an object, which buys something at some price. This view is concerned with what the consumer wants and how much he is going to pay; however, it is too narrow. The current attitude toward the consumer is broader, including his needs, wants and feelings. Short-term profits and sales become secondary matters in marketing. In fact, criteria in marketing are changing and humanistic factors together with social consequences are becoming essential, involving the quality of life, environmental effects, long-term benefit and others, where the focus is on human problems.
In many cases, consumers themselves determine their needs, wants, and long-term interests. But consumers often make decisions, which are disadvantageous to them. For example, many people like eating fatty foods, though they know it is harmful to health, many people smoke though they are aware it is an addiction, also many people drink strong drinks though they know alcohol is a source of various diseases. Frequently consumers' wants differ from public wealth. Consumers want to have convenience and prestige. For example, consumers wish to have hardwood window-frames, doors or other furniture and at the same time society strives to save the Amazon rainforests; consumers also need comfort and they want air conditioning systems, but society strives to stop the depletion of the ozone layer; consumers all around the world should use lead-free gas but not everyone cares about this. Thus, marketing should be concerned with and responsive to gaps between consumers' wants and societal wealth. Society-directed marketing should create not only attractive and delightful but also beneficial products.
In the humanistic view, it is important to balance performance of social-ethical marketing with social-ethical objectives of marketing. Such a balance would determine socially beneficial and desirable results, which would rise from marketing decisions and actions. Traditionally pragmatic, materialistic, micro-analytical roles are prevalent in marketing. Here it is a logical conclusion that marketing is analyzed mostly on the microeconomics level. Households, different companies and their resources and choices are fundamental objects in marketing. The concept of marketing matching the socialization of consumption that transfuses a rich society may be judged from the cultural point of view as at its peak, what Eric Frome calls "Homo consumers," i. e. a consumer whose main goal is to have more and to consume more. The humanistic challenge to marketing involves social consequences that have to become essential -the quality of life, the effect on the environment, long-term benefit and other similar parameters related to substantial human problems.
The ecological criterion and its limits in social marketing cover the consumer, business and society. Thus, in the concept of social-ethical marketing, the efforts to achieve main objectives of society, the consumer and company should be targeted at obligations of all elements to protect the ecological environment. Therefore, from the marketing point of view, limits of the ecological criterion against the public are set from the creation of the product to its end disposal -expulsion.
Ecological marketing and its implementation decrease the relationship and responsibility of the consumer and the company's to the environment.

Ecological Marketing within the Confines of the Social-Ethical Concept
It becomes more and more important to distinguish the ecological environment in marketing. Companies respond to these interests through environmental (ecological) marketing -with marketing efforts, to produce, support and fIX environment-friendly products. Henion (1976) was the first to use the term ecological marketing; in contemporary literature one may find other terms with basically the same meaning: "Green marketing" (Ottman 1993; Peatie 1992), "Environmental marketing" (Coddington 1993), "Eco-marketing" (Fuller&Butler 1994).
Environmental marketing includes many forms. For example, Shell gas stations in 9 US cities with air pollution problems now sell more clean gas. Aluminum industries recycle 61 % aluminum cans and pay consumers 900 million USD p. a. for the aluminum can waste. Such a voluntary response to the environment was exercised at low or no added cost with respect to consumers.
Ecological marketing is the process of devising products, ideas and services, pricing, promotion, distribution, planning, implementing and controlling, in pursuing these objectives: • Meeting consumers' needs and wants; • Achieving organizational objectives; • Reconciling this process and ecosystems Fuller (1999, 3-5).
A new paradigm emerges in ecological marketing meaning an idea that processes of production -consumption must function imitating processes of circulation of natural environment systems. Ecologic marketing represents a new paradigm, embracing the idea that production-consumption systems must function in ways that mimic circular natural systems. Its adoption suggests recognition of five fundamental tenets: I. Ecosystems are a physical limiting factor on marketing decisions. Ecosystems impose a non-negotiable mandate on decision makers. Therefore, screening marketing strategies for environmental impact and the full payment of eco-costs must become standard operating procedures. 11. The product system life cycle is the appropriate decision framework. Ecosystems impact is not the function of one organization or one customer at one time and place. Rather, it is the collective result of numerous interrelated decisions by many people and organizations over time. The product system life cycle represents the holistic decision framework necessary for gaining an understanding of ecological impact, issues, and sustainable marketing solutions. Ill. Pollution prevention and resource recovery strategies will preserve ecosystems functioning through the development of marketing strategy. IV. A "multiplier effect" exists in which small environmental improvements (i. e. eco-cost savings) by finns and customers at the micro level translate into large absolute improvements at the macro level. Billions of marketing decisions by organizations and customers represent sources of waste and wasting, each of which contributes in a small way to a problem of gigantic proportions; through the multiplier, small individual improvements sum into large overall gains in environmental quality. Broad acceptance of ecological marketing practices, by organizations and customers, is a prerequisite for environmental improvement. The cooperation of a few will not suffice; the total elimination of "free riders" is necessary. V. Ecological marketing is not an exercise in corporate altruism. Ecologic marketing must not lose sight of the fact that satisfying customers and attaining organizational goals, financial and otherwise, remain absolutely necessary conditions that must be met while achieving environmental compatibility. It also must be noted that the "best" product from a purely environmental impact standpoint is no product at all, an unacceptable state of affairs. Thus, the challenge is to reinvent the ways and means of delivering desired customer benefits and meeting organizational goals while leaving no discernible environmental footprint on the planet Fuller (1999,.5-6).
The definition of ecological marketing broadens confines of the present marketing orientation. However, the concept of ecological marketing virtually does not exceed the limits of the main concept of social-ethical marketing. Ecological marketing is a process of management by which achievement of organization objectives and needs of buyers are found, foreseen and effectively and profitably satisfied. An exceptional parameter of ecological marketing is a condition that the whole process and ecosystems would be reconciled, i. e. from the environmental point of view, reducing ecological costs and at the same time striving for the long-term public wealth. Basically it does not contradict the essence of the concept of socialethical marketing, which involves corporate social responsibility against the environment. Societal responsibility is pointed to the ecological environment, i. e. ecosystems. "Objectives and needs" of ecosystems, consumers and the company are in the area of ecological marketing. Thus the concept of social-ethical marketing includes four main elements that become the ecological criterion -the company, the consumer, society and the ecosystem.

The Ecological Criterion and Measurement Parameters
The ecological criterion covers three elements in social-ethical marketing -the consumer, society and the company. These ecological criteria are the basis for evaluating the impact of human economic activity and consumption on the environment (ecosystems). Therefore, the ecological evaluation would be only partially complete without the main environmental level, the ecosystem, i. e. without society, the consumer and the company's impact on the ecosystem. Thus, I divide the ecological criterion into four different levels: • The consumer level (product packaging, labeling, branding); • The company level (special divisions, pressreleases); • The societallevel (consumerism); • The environmental (ecosystem) level (air, water, soil pollution).
Ecological criteria OD the part of the consumer: • Environment-friendly product; • Possibility to recycle packaging and I or product; • Product classification from gray to dark green; • Product durability; • Product variety; • Product energy utilization; • Ecological raw materials; • Ecologicallabeling; • Energy consumption due to product manufacturing in the company; • Possibility of biodegradation of product; • Impact on the ecosystem; • Noise.
Ecological criteria on the part of society: • Quality of life; • Effect on the environment; • Safe to consume.
The ecological approach in society is related to the concept of social-ethical marketing and ecological marketing. Social-ethical marketing together with ecological marketing becomes more popular because it makes it detrimental for the business to ignore the interest of society and popular social attitudes. For example, in those countries with environmental movements and where people care about environmental problems, companies get less favor (and profit!) if they use disposable and environmentally harmful packaging. Meanwhile, businesses that use glass containers, which sometimes seem old-fashioned and less practical, get more approval from society. Because these packages are not thrown away but can be used many times, they do not pollute nature. The environmental movement has very much changed the opinion of society about consumption many products such as natural fur or natural leather.
Of course, societal attitudes are formed not only by environmental ideas. Grounds for these attitudes can be not only rational but also emotional. Companies, which take into account all the present and potential needs of society, pro-duce goods that are more favorable because they are up-to-date and match the attitudes of many people. At the same time a good company image and higher prestige in society are created, more loyal consumers are attracted, the organization gets the opportunity to sell more products and at higher price in this way improving its level of profitability and competitiveness.
Ecological criteria on the business level: • Industrial ecology; • Ecological marketing. The ecological approach of the company depends on its implementation of industrial ecology. Industrial ecology includes these spheres: • Modem environmental technologies (reduction of pollution, cleaner manufacturing, and cleaner technologies); • Environmental management in companies; • Evaluation of the whole product life cycle, recycling of materials; • Product design in order to improve environmental quality, quality of consumption and recycling the product or its components; • Consumer segmentation.
In the whole world industry and government follow different strategies in order to reduce the impact on environment. Every activity includes a certain level of system in its field. Hardin Tibbs in "Industrial Ecology: Environmental Links for the Industry," highlights six principal elements of industrial ecology: 1. Industrial ecosystems. Inducing co-operation between different industrial units in order to turn one producer's wastes into raw materials for others.

Harmonization of interaction with the
biosphere. Optimization of manufacturing intensity, place and time in order to allow manufacturing to come into natural surroundings of systems as safely as possible; detennining the parameters for the environmental monitoring in real time. 3. Industrial metabolism. This is the analysis of interaction and turning of energy and materials in the production processes and the restructuring of production according to the results of analysis. This type of analysis estimates all changes of energy and mass, from resource mining to the turning of product into wastes, including and changes in the production processes. It is a multipurpose method developed in 1970 by Robert U. Ayes, which became a ground for industrial ecology. Industrial metabolism is based on the fundamentallaws of thennodynamics and is successfully applied; it highlights great differences between efficiency of anthropologic activity and flows in natural systems. Industrial metabolism can be successfully applied both at the company or manufacturing level as well as regional or global levels.

Restructuring of energy systems. An aim
to create such an energy system, which would be based on the integration into industrial ecosystems using self-renewing and secondary recourses of energy.

Development of new environmental policy principles.
Systemic and optimal integration of economical and environmental impact tools. 6. Dematerialization of industrial material flow. Efforts to optimize the intensity of materials and energy in the process of production. One of the most developed methods of industrial ecology is cleaner production. It is a complex strategy with results of its application when pollution is minimized in its source, i. e. in the process of production eliminating the source of pollution while modifying the technological process, its organizing, technological schedule and raw material, or product in order to reduce its negative impact on the environment during 158 the whole product life cycle. Cleaner production distinguishes itself with an approach to pollution and wastes as an integral part of the process where they occur. It is certainly a progressive strategy but its implementation is related to a number of impediments detennined by the lack of systematic approach.

Ecological Criteria on the Ecosystem Level
Ecology and ecosystems are closely related. The tenn ecosystem in ecology is defined as a part ofland and water where various plants, animals and microorganisms reside forming, together with animate and inanimate nature, a solid complex, where energy constantly circulates and metabolism takes place, where, depending on certain environment conditions, constant changes and development occur [See Appendix 1]. The ecological approach on the consumer, company and ecosystem level is related to ecological marketing. The term ecological marketing (EM) can be ascribed to the concept of broad marketing; perfonnance of its strategies is mostly displayed in the field of macro marketing. This new approach of marketing in the context of the environment now becomes more known as ecological marketing.

Conclusions
The ecological criteria or the criteria for ecological evaluation are viewed as the evaluation of the impact of human economic activity and consumption on the natural environment (ecosystems).
Ecological criterion and its limits in social marketing cover the consumer, business and society.
In the concept of social-ethical marketing, efforts to achieve the main objective of society -its welfare, should be targeted at the compa-ny's obligation to protect the ecological environment while producing environmentally friendly products.
From the marketing point ofview, limits of the ecological criterion against the public are set from the creation of the product to its end disposal -expulsion.
The relationship of the customer and the company to the natural environment is revealed through ecological marketing, which virtually does not exceed the limits of the main concept of social-ethical marketing.
Ecological criteria on part of the consumer include the product, its packaging and the impact of the production process on the environment.
Ecological criteria on part of society include the quality of public life, consequences to the environment and safe consumption. Ecological criteria on the company level include industrial ecology and ecological marketing.