I found the ideas in the presentation to be an interesting change from average ways to assess cooperation and environment relations. When the general public is normally assessing the environmental significance of a company, the surface shows environment water bottles, reusable bags, and banners of support for rainforests and endangered animals. While all of these are good initiatives, when the issue is deconstructed internally we can see the motives of marketing schemes and more control of the public with less accountability; these corporations are thus seen as partners in the fight for a greener environment instead of enemies.
I also found it interesting that the 14th amendment that was suppose to give rights and freedom to the slaves was used by the cooperation to become one person with freedoms. With the main goal (by law) of the cooperation being a profitable bottom line, this “person” seems to be someone society should not easily trust. Throughout the presentation it was discussed that any chemical can be produced at little financial cost for the company, but the long term negative effects on the surrounding community are continually rising. Biochemical products produced by these companies are continually murdering people, and if these corporations are truly a person, could jail time not be an opinion and for who?
Questions: When you think of companies such as Molson Canadian, or Ford (even Laurier University) what emotions do you associate with these industries and how do these emotions effect purchasing power? Do the green images (greenwashing) of Ford and Laurier effect your choices as well?
Molson Commercial: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg
Ford Commercial: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=6i-6-s_WjO0&feature=related
I also found this 5 minute clip on the green marketing industry (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=bquvIgzKrzY&feature=related) I found this clip really interesting with regards to the impact the green image has on the society, the people who follow it, and then how they influence others. I disgree though with the statement that companies are not in it for a quick buck. What do you think about greenwashing?
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I stated in my own blog that I found 'greenwashing' to be incredibly adept at persuading my choices as a consumer. However, I like to be an aware consumer, so I researched and found an article that greatly helped me avoid greenwashing, which I hope can be spread as general knowledge. You may find these of interests :)
ReplyDelete1. Look for Eco-labels on products that are certified by a third party like Green Seal
2. Don't trust products that promote only one claim, like "This product comes from a substainably harvest forest!" Look for one that have multi-claims as yeah, you made it from that forest but what about your milling and transportation services?
3.Good labels direct you to more information about why it is a true green product - not just empty advocations.
Enjoy - because it IS possible to escape greenwashing! :)
I found the Ford commercial featuring Kermit the frog to be very effective. Not in the sense that it fully sells me the car, but in the simple repeated statement, "It's not easy being green". I would fully agree with this statement. I think that there are underlying implications about people to claim to be environmentally friendly in their everyday lives. I would argue that although this greenwashing phenomenon is considerably accurate in the sense that there is this idea that is claimed to be a "long-term" image, there are many faults that accompany this. People do their part by recycling, or reusing, but at the end of the day, it is difficult to follow an eneivromentally sustainable lifestyle when we live in a society that is dominated by consumerism. When Kermit sees the Ford Hybrid, the idea of being green as hard hanges to it being easy...but at what cost? Only by purchasing the car does it become easy - but not in the long-run. It's a vicious cycle...
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