Jumping on the big ‘green’ bandwagon - quite.
We are just at the start of a flood ('scuse the tasteless pun) of 'look how green we are' ads. Most, so far, fill me with dread, simply by the sheer crassness of the message, bolted on top of a usually pretty thin actual initiative.
And it's got me to wondering just how much longer it will... can continue. Because if in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, then if all in the land have gone green, to stand out from the crowd (which, let's face it, is pretty much what A&P is) those in charge of the purse strings may either tire or seek to differentiate. And much as it may seem attractive, I can only see Mutually Assured Greenification as being taken so far.
As one whose philosophy is pretty much predicated on the value of persuasion and seeing good environmental practice as an opportunity to embrace rather than a problem to 'deal with', I nonetheless cannot also help but think what could be DONE to help make this a better planet for future generations with £7.5M, rather than blowing it on a campaign to blow green smoke up various orifices.
No wonder the majority of the consuming public think it's all a bit of a lark.
2 comments:
Peter,
I dread to think what might be coming our way! I can't decide whether greenwash ads are better or worse than 'burn lots of oil' ads (4x4s, flights etc).........
It'll be interesting to see whether the carbon label on Walkers crisps becomes more common. Trouble is to get an accurate carbon label that has some indepedent auditing is not an overnight job. I remember that one of the things that Walkers found out was that they were paying farmers for potatoes by fresh weight, but what Walkers valued was dry weight. This meant that Walkers were having to dry off excessively wet potatoes in the frying process (and using more energy) and farmers were tending to over-irrigate. Now, the farmers are paid on a dry weight basis so both they and Walkers have the incentive to save money and the environment at the same time. As you said, "an opportunity to embrace, rather than a problem to deal with".
It's interesting to compare this post with the one about Defra's new advisor. Time will tell whether the Government will be serious about environmental issues, or whether they will ignore the science. Plans to encourage airport expansion and wishy-washy talk of emissions trading don't look encouraging. If they give (yes for free) permits to pollute to airlines like they gave them to power companies in the EU carbon trading scheme, then it will just be another windfall profit and CO2 emissions will keep rising
Saw an article in the International Rice Research Institute's Rice Today magazine. It's a timely reminder that it's the worlds' poorest people who are going to be hardest hit by climate change. (In many parts of the tropics, even a small increase in temperature will decrease yields of rice).
http://www.irri.org/publications/today/pdfs/6-3/10-15.pdf
Lawrence
At least the 4x4 ads are more honest.
And don't get me started on labelling. Well, you don't have to, because I am already on a roll!
I was at yet another do recently (still to be reviewed, if ever, at this rate) about enviro legislation, when this topic came up.
And I think I know I am spending too much time on this when I knew more than the lawyers!
Because I pointed out that not only did we already have a few varieties of health chart/trafficlight/pie chart to deal with, but there is of course an odd mix (or not, they might be separate) of food miles and carbon cost to add.
And, naturally, all the retailers are doing it differently, it seems. Morrisons has already announced theirs, while WRAP is in discussion with others.
And when this camel ends up on the packs, which will need a CDR attached to explain it all, no one will have a clue what it's about anyway!
At least the Walkers example is a positive step, but how long did it take? And what persuasion?
Thank you for the rice link.
It reminds me of the seminar at Venturefest (another missing review in the works), where the climate guys made the point that while temperature does play its part, and is bound into the hydro system, what really matters is water.
Post a Comment