Top Ten Greenwash Campaigns of 2007

You’re probably read the Campaign Top Ten of most things in advertising but what about the great greenwash campaigns of 2007? We’ve had plenty of those up in front of the ASA this year.

Far from me to decide on my own, I’ll let you decide – just put your nomination in the box below.

However, I shall nominated Shell for it’s flower power ad claiming to heat greenhouses with it’s waste CO2 ad, ‘DON’T THROW ANYTHING AWAY, BECAUSE THERE IS NO AWAY’. 

Great ad but it was slated by the ASA because it was a big spin – only 0.325% of CO2 waste made it to greenhouses.

And while you are thinking about nominations, here is a thought to consider when you go and buy that ‘fresh’ turkey this Christmas.

Under EU regulations the word ‘fresh’ doesn’t have to mean fresh as we know it. In fact it can be very old. Crazy as it sounds, it actually is defined as poultry that has not been stiffened by the cooling process.

Happy Christmas, I’m off to enjoy a fresh fish Christmas lunch in sunny Spain.

Top brands agree to reduce profits to save the planet.

At the recent Co-operatives Society event, 'Ethical Shopping at the Crossroads’, there was a clear message to brands and retailers they don't want to hear. We need to consume less which means brands need to reduce their marketing effect and accept less profits.

However, the above headline is a pipedream (and a cheap way to get you to read this blog).

Britain (like America and most of Europe) is wealthy. Even our poor live better lifestyles than millions of the better off in the Third World. In fact 1% of the West have the same amount as 57% of the Third World. And with this wealth comes indulgence and waste. Which in turns is trashing the planet and creating a serious health problem.

Since the Second World War we have become mass consumers. The more we earn the more we churn, from new gadgets to food. The lifetime of many household products is getting less and when they break we prefer to buy new, arguing it’s cheaper than fixing it. Recently a fridge was advertised as guaranteed to last 10 years. 40 years ago you wouldn’t have bought a fridge unless you expected it to last at least 20 years. Computers now last a few years before you need to upgrade, a totally managed situation designed to increase churn. (Did you know IT produces more CO2 than air travel?)

We also spend less on food than ever before, on average as little as 9% of our income on the supermarket shopping – compare that to 60% in China. It’s no wonder we have an obesity problem (and an estimated 1.3 million of people suffering from malnutrition due to bad diet in the UK). Shockingly there are one billion obese people in the West but many billion starving elsewhere. Never has the world been so unbalanced.

The outcome of this consumer glut is increasing landfill – we throw away enough waste every 2 hours to fill the Albert Hall. 25% of our shopping basket ends up in the trashcan. 25% of food produced in this country gets wasted.

We need to move from 'value for money' to 'values for money'. We have to evaluate the real cost of what we buy and consume.

The big challenge is to slow down the churn. It’s only by consuming less that we will waste less. Household appliances need to be designed to last longer and be easily repairable. Food needs to be measured. However, this means less for shareholders too.

Somehow I can’t see that happened as I doubt there’s a CEO in the country who’s brave enough to tell their shareholders they need to reduce profits so we can reduce damage to people and the planet. But then until Stuart Rose raised the green flag above M&S who would have thought any retail chain would take ethics so seriously.

The BBC Not So Good Food Show

The biggest event in the food lovers’ calendar; the BBC Good Food Show, was on at the NEC at the weekend. Any of those that ventured there may be asking what does ‘good’ actually mean these days. 

Claiming a fantastic mix of live cookery demos, masterclasses, top celebrity chefs and hundreds of exhibitors, it was certainly a feast. What it didn’t claim was food that was actually good for you, the environment or farmers.

In these ethically conscious times there seemed to be a total lack of ethical suppliers. Today I would have thought that good would mean healthy, less exploitative, natural, organic, fair trade. By contrast there was plenty of rubbish food there.

The exhibition was zoned into different areas but what was noticeable was there were no areas dedicated to Fairtrade, Organics, Healthy options or any of the many other ethical food types. By contrast the IFE show (held at Excel earlier this year) did have that.

There were just a handful of established suppliers like Divine, ChocAid, POM, Union coffee, Doves Farms and a few others.

There were a few new ethical brands like Best Coffee Beans and Grumpy Mule (both doing Fairtrade and organic coffee), Safe to Eat and my favourite named brand - The Well Hung Meat Company.

One interesting new  brand is The Good Food Village. Set up by two New Zealanders, their mission is to bring good food to kids and educate their palate by making food fun as well as healthy.

The Co-op - who were there and are now one the UK’s biggest retailer of Fairtrade wines - have just published their latest report on ethical consumerism (to save detailing it here go to: http://www.brandrepublic.com/BrandRepublicNews/News/770611/Ethical-spending-doubles-spending-green-energy-low/ ).

It marks a growth in our spending, Fairtrade has grown by 46% with overall spending on ethical food & drink almost doubling. However, spending on ethical shopping is still only a fraction of total spending and less than 10% of the (middle class) shopping basket - 25% being discounted items.

Discounts has been an area that organisations like Action Aid have focused on recently with their WHO PAYS? campaign, highlighting how discounts were not being absorbed by the supermarkets but passed down the line to the farmers and workers (see:  http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100842/who_pays_loyalty_zone.html).

One of the key issues that has held growth back has been the premium charged on all green & ethical goods - many retailers charge as much as 30% above normal prices. Being green is something many people can’t afford to do. It also explains why lower social economic classes (up to 40% of the population) buy hardly anything that’s ethical.

Green is largely a middle class thing, but faced with a tighter budget, shoppers will cut back and opt for value over ethics when it comes to the crunch. So the health of the economy plays an important part in growth.

If we want to see a dramatic change prices need to come down to the same level. Ironically, the spotlight falls upon the supermarkets again.