Image is Nothing, Earth is Everything

In 1996, Sprite changed their slogan from “I Like the Sprite in You” to “Image is Nothing, Thirst is Everything - Obey Your Thirst.” The change skyrocketed the brand’s success and within a matter of months sales increased by 9%. Since then, Sprite has become the fourth most popular soft drink on the market.

There are two strong ironies regarding this slogan.

1. The advertising was focussed on image more than anything.
2. While Sprite does quench thirst, like other soft drinks it can “act as dehydrating diuretic“. If you really wanted to obey your thirst, you’d drink water.

While Sprite has nothing to do with the environment (and this is an environmental blog), their marketing efforts are noteworthy because of how they parallel the advertising efforts by thousands of “green” businesses across North American today.

While Sprite promoted a thirst-quenching drink (which it wasn’t the best at doing), thousands of companies in 2008 are promoting green (when they aren’t doing all they could be).

Problem, Agitate, Solve

A very basic advertising formula is to find a problem that affects the target market, agitate it and make it seem bigger than it is, and then produce a solution - not only making the consumer feel better, but also putting some money in the pockets of the producer.

Ever since ozone depletion and global warming have become legitimate threats to our environments sustainability, companies have been searching for ways to offer solutions to the worried marketplace.

Green Marketing is one of the biggest trends of the last decade. Unfortunately, actually being green - or being completely honest about being green - isn’t so widely practiced. ESLPod.com recently stated that “American companies are trying to appeal (make more attractive) to consumers (people who buy products) by claiming that their products are “earth-friendly” or “eco-safe,” when it is not clear whether they are or not.”

It’s called Greenwashing: companies misleading consumers regarding their environmental practices or the environmental benefits of their products or services.

Greenwashing

Last month the UK based Advertising Standards Authority reported a record number of complains over greenwashing.

“The number of complaints lodged to the advertising standards watchdog relating to environmental or green claims has more than quadrupled in the past year, according to a report released this week. The annual report from the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) shows that in 2007 the ASA received 561 complaints about environmental claims in 410 adverts, compared with just 117 complaints about 83 adverts the year before – a more than fourfold increase. The ASA has already censured several high-profile companies including Suzuki, Shell, Ryanair and Toyota for the practice of “greenwash” – where companies are found to have misled consumers on their environmental practices as a business or of the particular benefits of a product or service.”

Some of the companies who’ve got in trouble over recent false claims include Lexus, who offered consumers “low emissions with zero guilt“; Cotton USA, who promoted sustainable cotton products (an oxymoron at best); Ryanair, for their inaccurate information regarding CO2 emissions; Michelin, who forgot to mention any factual information on their website for their eco-tire; Shell, for saying “we use our waste CO2 to grow flowers” when only 0.325 per cent of their emissions were used to grow flowers; and Toyota, who exaggerated the hybrid’s CO2 benefits.

Beyond the obvious truth-bending advertising efforts, there are also issues with “green hypocrites” - companies that do, in fact, deliver valuable green solutions while at the same time offering other products that go against everything the company supposedly stands for.

Let me introduce you to Apple, Microsoft, and Nintendo…companies who know that “green sells.”

Hypocricy

ABC News recently delivered a feature article on the hypocritical practices of these mega tech corporations.

“Apple has a ‘My Greener Apple’ campaign–lauded as a huge success among ecology-conscious Apple customers. Microsoft boosted its green image last year when it sponsored Live Earth, a series of concerts dedicated to combating climate change…Nintendo showed its verdant tendencies last fall when it introduced …’one of the first games based on the growing environmental movement.’”

At the same time, however, “Nintendo and Microsoft ranked near the bottom among 18 tech firms that Greenpeace rated for its ‘global policies and practices on eliminating harmful chemicals and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers.‘”

And Apple? While they rated much better in the Greenpeace rankings, critics are upset over the iPhones use of hazardous chemicals including brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and hazardous polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs).

Much Like Sprite…

Consumers need to be extremely careful about what they’re buying. Instead of trusting advertising slogans, you need to dig deeper. Look at the facts and statistics to see what’s really happening. Crunch the numbers and make the comparisons to figure out what is really going on.

It’s unfortunate that so many companies would rather portray the image of being green while acting as though they believe the Earth is everything. Even the companies that are on the right track - such as Toyota with their hybrid vehicles - are manipulating consumers to think their products are even better than they actually are.

Sure, a Sprite will quench your thirst for a bit…but in the end the sugar acts as a dehydrating factor. In the same way, companies offering green solutions are headed in the right direction…but still have a long way to go. Telling the truth would be a great place to start.

Further Reading:

• ABC News: Are ‘Green’ High-Tech Companies Green Hypocrites?
• Guardian: Advertising watchdog receives record complaints over corporate “greenwash”
• Telegraph: Record complains over greenwashing
• TreeHugger: Complaints Against Greenwashing Quadruple in the UK
• Advertising Standards Authority: 2007 Annual Report [full .pdf report]

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