ECO-LABELS AND CONSUMERS.

Rising concern with our planet's future mobilizes all market participants to actively approach its protection as well as the removal of the existing damage. Marketing managers, who assess all their decisions with respect to the environmental impact, are no exception. In their opinion, the critical marketing tool is a product which on one hand causes pollution, but on the other it can reduce the negative impact on the environment thanks to its attributes. Eco-labeling is also a part of the process of making decisions about products. It is a tool of product differentiation and guarantees that the product influences the environment less than other products with comparable quality attributes throughout its whole life cycle. In this paper, we present the selected outcomes of the research (with the emphasis on eco-labeling), which focused on the examination of consumers' environmental behavior in Slovakia and their reactions to environmental initiatives of companies. In the second part, we concentrate on consumers' perception of bio products and organic food. Our findings are based on the fact that the familiarity with these labels was the highest in terms of eco-labeling. Although the demand for the agricultural bio quality products in Slovakia rises, this growth is much slower compared to the developed countries. The awareness of bio products and organic food is insufficient and only a small percentage of consumers buy them regularly for various reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]