Greenwash Watch: Has Green Advertising Nuked the Fridge?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07. 2.08
Jonasrisen at the always interesting Greenline does a wonderful job of collecting the most obvious and awful greenwashing ads in the architectural press, starting with the most egregious of them all, the hippie ad for LG Eden countertops. He writes:
"Advertising has an especially important role in presenting the idea of sustainability. Used properly, it can educate and activate the public to make the better decision for themselves and the world around them. Used ineffectively, advertising can make an idea cliché. It can reduce the impact of any movement by blanketing the world with a diluted and unfocused message."
It is not even an sensible message; anyone who has ever been near a stable or a volcano knows that nature doesn't necessarily have low emissions.
"Presented here are good examples of advertising with ‘green’ as a theme. The selected ads are not what I consider greenwashing, but do skirt a line where a product becomes dubiously associated with nature. Photoshop is wonderful and it can do some amazing things, but even it has a hard time blurring the boundary between ceiling tiles and a tree canopy or a building and a polar bear or a window and a tree."
I think it has already gone past that point; it is everywhere, green advertising has nuked the fridge with such imagery. Almost every single ad in the architectural trade press has kids, trees or polar bears in them, one's eyes glaze over completely and don't even notice any more.
It isn't even good photoshop or a coherent message; what is green about having a monster condo eating up green fields and trees? Oh, they are selling insulation. It saves energy; that makes it all OK.
We don't have time for this; tell us what you are selling, what it does and why it is green. Leave the photoshop in the box. ::Greenline
More from Greenwash Watch:
How To Spot Greenwashing
Greenwashing Index: Rate Your Favorite
Reading Between the Labels
Greenwash Watch: Solar Panels Do Not A Green House Make
Greenwash Watch: Greenwashing Your Countertop: LG Eden
The Semiotics of Greenwashing
We have a new wirlpool fridge, It is energy efficient 1 and 1/2 years old. The compressor has gone on it and must be replaced. The repair man says that the new ridges do not last very long any more. You can expect 5 years. This being the case what is the arguement for buying an energy efficient fridge that must be replaced every 5 years. The energy cost to produce is not offset by the hydro saved. It is just one more big con to make us feel good about consuming. I am looking for an older fridge that will last 20 years. Then I am going to tell Whirlpool to come and pick up their junk!
Meh. People are smarter than this author will admit. Just because an ad overtly or sublty appeals to emotions doesn't mean the product is bad or counterproductive. Nor are consumers going to approach such an ad with a less jaundiced eye. Since these ads are in trade papers, one would assume such a thing even less.
Excellent article www.buygogreenonline.com bringing the awareness and the action of each individual make a difference upon the rest of the conscionable seekers and that makes the difference.
Let's not pick on the architects. Go to any architectural conference, and you'll eave with the feeling that here is one profession that has internalized the need for green- or at least energy efficient- design. In architecture every improvement in efficiency reduces operating costs. Every reduction of indoor particulate emissions improves the health of the occupants. Yes, there is a lot of greenwashing, but there is a lot more substance per unit adverting to green claims here than elsewhere.
There is only one effective countermeasure to greenwashing: numbers. And those never seem to make it into ads, and often not even into treehugger articles.
5 years? Sheesh, The fridge we currently have was made ca. 1969. While I'm positive it's not the most efficient thing in the world, I've got to give it credit for longevity. The only reason we found out how old it truly was due to the drip pan finally rusting through. Fortunately I was able to use some bricolage skills to fabricate a workable replacement from a baking pan.