It seems over the past few years that the environmentalism and conservation movements that started out at grass roots level decades ago has been somewhat hijacked for the greater good of capitalism. Coming from a graphic design and marketing/advertising standpoint, it seems that now the new fad is for all companies to be "green". Look around and you can see it everywhere you look now. On logos, in tag lines, in new marketing campaigns and product offerings. It boggles my mind because companies that have NO inkling of ever becoming "green" are jumping on the bandwagon, now that we as a society are making an abrupt move towards more fuel efficient automobiles, healthier food and alternative energies.
BIG OIL GOES GREEN
I guess I was first taken aback by this trend when I began seeing BP, the world's second largest petroleum producing company, run new ads and had a remake of their logo back around 2000. Their old logo consisted of just a shield with the bold BP letters emlazened in the middle. Compare t
hat old logo to the new "warm and fuzzy" version created by Landor Associates. It's BP letters are now lower case and just below them is a nice warm and fuzzy daisy/sun-like star burst. On the surface, it may look as though BP is all that it's claiming to be, an oil company in search of sustainable energy, weening us off the oil. But upon further inspection I was surprised.
In 2006 BP had been guilty of spilling nearly 270,000 gallons of oil in Alaska. So serious was the accident that some of its employees were sent to prison. I had totally forgotten about this incident had it not been for some quick investigating on the internet for this blog. BP has spent over $125 million with advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather in 2007 alone to help the public forget about it's miscues, and for many it has been working. As one article put it, these companies have spent vast fortunes on advertising and PR to build the impression that they are altogether abandoning oil production and pursuing "pure carrot juice" as the new fuel. Lest we forget that BP was (and still is) a big supporter of opening up the ANWR for further drilling.
GREEN COFFEE?
We all know Starbucks. There's literally one on every corner in Seattle and one on every other corner in the rest of the world. Starbucks has always claimed to be the big boy when it comes to being environmentally friendly. From their earth tone logo to their support of fair trade coffee, it seems from a glance that they are what they say they are. But it pays to take a closer look.
Have you ever noticed how many Starbucks have drive-thrus? For a company that prides itself on being green, wouldn't it seem obvious to dispense of all the drive thrus? Think how many thousands of gallons of gas are being spewed by the millions who wait in line on a daily basis.
According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch back in 2007, even though Starbucks preaches that it's cups are made of 10% recycled materials, the cups themselves aren't recyclable in most US cities! Why? The plastic that coats the inside of the cups to keep your no foam double latte from leaking keeps it from being recycled with all the other paper products. Kind of an irony if you ask me. But apparently, many Starbucks employees have been instructed to tell its customers otherwise. Starbucks claims that purchasing a recyclable cup wasn't an option for them, but the cup company disagrees. A rep from SOLO Cup argues that they (Starbucks) just weren't willing to pay the higher cost for a more environmentally friendly cup.
Starbucks' biggest claim to the green marketing charade is it's Fair Trade coffee. Everywhere you look, on it's counters, on it's bags it boasts how it purchases only Fair Trade coffee. In actuality, Fair Trade coffee beans only amount to about 7% of it's total bean purchases. Not as much as what the company boasts.
In the end, it is up to us the consumer to be more aware of "greenwashing" by corporations. Especially now as we are coming to the end of our dependence on oil and are being forced to move into alternative energies quicker than we'd like.
As designers, advertisers and marketers, it is also up to us to stick to our guns and ideologies and be truthful in our designs and advertising. Because, ultimately, it comes back to us.
BIG OIL GOES GREEN
I guess I was first taken aback by this trend when I began seeing BP, the world's second largest petroleum producing company, run new ads and had a remake of their logo back around 2000. Their old logo consisted of just a shield with the bold BP letters emlazened in the middle. Compare t
hat old logo to the new "warm and fuzzy" version created by Landor Associates. It's BP letters are now lower case and just below them is a nice warm and fuzzy daisy/sun-like star burst. On the surface, it may look as though BP is all that it's claiming to be, an oil company in search of sustainable energy, weening us off the oil. But upon further inspection I was surprised.In 2006 BP had been guilty of spilling nearly 270,000 gallons of oil in Alaska. So serious was the accident that some of its employees were sent to prison. I had totally forgotten about this incident had it not been for some quick investigating on the internet for this blog. BP has spent over $125 million with advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather in 2007 alone to help the public forget about it's miscues, and for many it has been working. As one article put it, these companies have spent vast fortunes on advertising and PR to build the impression that they are altogether abandoning oil production and pursuing "pure carrot juice" as the new fuel. Lest we forget that BP was (and still is) a big supporter of opening up the ANWR for further drilling.
GREEN COFFEE?
We all know Starbucks. There's literally one on every corner in Seattle and one on every other corner in the rest of the world. Starbucks has always claimed to be the big boy when it comes to being environmentally friendly. From their earth tone logo to their support of fair trade coffee, it seems from a glance that they are what they say they are. But it pays to take a closer look.
Have you ever noticed how many Starbucks have drive-thrus? For a company that prides itself on being green, wouldn't it seem obvious to dispense of all the drive thrus? Think how many thousands of gallons of gas are being spewed by the millions who wait in line on a daily basis.
According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch back in 2007, even though Starbucks preaches that it's cups are made of 10% recycled materials, the cups themselves aren't recyclable in most US cities! Why? The plastic that coats the inside of the cups to keep your no foam double latte from leaking keeps it from being recycled with all the other paper products. Kind of an irony if you ask me. But apparently, many Starbucks employees have been instructed to tell its customers otherwise. Starbucks claims that purchasing a recyclable cup wasn't an option for them, but the cup company disagrees. A rep from SOLO Cup argues that they (Starbucks) just weren't willing to pay the higher cost for a more environmentally friendly cup.
Starbucks' biggest claim to the green marketing charade is it's Fair Trade coffee. Everywhere you look, on it's counters, on it's bags it boasts how it purchases only Fair Trade coffee. In actuality, Fair Trade coffee beans only amount to about 7% of it's total bean purchases. Not as much as what the company boasts.
In the end, it is up to us the consumer to be more aware of "greenwashing" by corporations. Especially now as we are coming to the end of our dependence on oil and are being forced to move into alternative energies quicker than we'd like.
As designers, advertisers and marketers, it is also up to us to stick to our guns and ideologies and be truthful in our designs and advertising. Because, ultimately, it comes back to us.
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