"Green" advertising is good advertising.
Studies have shown that the new wave of consumers will, given the choice between two products of equal price and value, usually choose the product that is marketed as "environmentally friendly," over the other that is not. Why is this? My hope is that people are jumping on the band wagon of environmental consciousness, but it may not be a result of their new-found appreciation for nature. Instead, it's likely fueled by the overgeneralized "green is good" attitude.
Jumping back to the first Earth Day in 1970, youth culture in America was frustrated with every aspect of the Vietnam War, the Santa Barbara oil spill recoils still rung in the ears of those discontented with 'big businesses' violently polluting our rivers, and Senator Gaylord Nelson had sprung his "national teach-in on the environment." The media ate ALLLL up.
Obviously I have no first hand account of the matters and am relying on textbooks and late 60s-early 70s propaganda. But that's just it; the commercials, posters, political cartoons, and photos of the time were famed and frozen. A quick #Youtube or #Google search will land you smack in the center of the gatherings, like you were actually there to witness the events unfold.
Well, unfold they did and on people went... leaving a stream of litter kicked up by the herding heels as the masses filed back to their regular lifestyles. You have to scroll past the first few pages of your "Earth Day" Google search to get to any such images.
In stopping myself from dwelling on the fact that the American mindset has not changed much since this day, I'm going to say that: 1. People have a lot of energy and CAN accomplish amazing things together, and 2. the media has an insane amount of power over those people!
What I am really saying is that, in order to get people to care about the environment, the message needs to be driven by the media.
Yes. The media: television, magazines, the newspaper, billboards, Facebook Ads, and all those creepy online cookies that advertising companies use to track and target your every click through the internet. No matter how many 'opt-out' options that web browsers may offer, you are and will continually be bombarded, persuaded, and influenced by advertising. I am every day. The media is beginning to grab hold of the notion that many people are jumping to purchase "green" goods -- usually in the place of actually changing their lifestyles, but nonetheless, it's a start. -- This means that "eco" advertising campaigns are starting to pop up everywhere we look.
If a car commercial portrays a healthy young couple frolicking through the farmers market before packing up their trunk with reusable bags of locally grown groceries, that sedan will radiate, 'I support the health of the environment so you should BUY ME!' And if you incorporate a leaf into the new logo of a brand of clothing, many people will automatically believe that the brand is environmentally conscious despite products being manufactured in unsanitary Haitian factories that pour industrial waste into the sea at rates intolerable in the US. Out of sight out of mind, right?
The consumer has to wade through the hype to make informed purchases...
The same goes for companies that claim to be in the environmental business. Engineering and consulting firms, water companies, landscape architectural businesses, farmers, fishermen.... who can you trust? Who actually has the best interest of the environment at the forefront of their business model? The desire to care for the environment is usually there, and the intent to improve the Earth is often a driving factor in business decisions. However, misguided management, or insufficient experience in other realms of science, may lead a good-natured effort astray...
Like everyone else searching for their place in the world, I have hopes for the future. My hope is to someday utilize the power of the media to slowly condemn unsustainable practices; the American society has been shaped around wasteful grandeur long-enough... Idealistic environmental goals will morph into reality when conservation slips into the public psyche!
"People protect what the love." - J. Cousteau
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