Arnold on ethical marketing

CHRIS ARNOLD

This year has seen an explosion of music festivals and almost all of them are trying to be greener than the next. But one festival is claiming a new ethical twist – no commercialisation. No ads, no sponsorship. Could anti-marketing be the new form of green music marketing? This year has been a lot of focus on greening up of festivals, partly in response to criticisms and in part to a more planetary aware youth. (There’s even green awards for them now.) Ironically this move is driven more by the music industry than the festival goers. Bands like Cold Play have been very vocal about carbon footprints (though most concert goers probably think it’s music style rather than a grading system). By contrast, the Madonna’s of this world are happily jetting about and burning gas like it was still cheap. Time Out, Smart Planet and Big Issue have both produced guides to ‘how green is my festival’. There’s little doubt greening up is fashionable and sales of eco-tents, hemp t-shirts (more eco than cotton) and organic veggie burgers will be up. And if you could get organic hash, they’d probably advertise it too. Though given recent busts, seems it takes a lot of energy to grow the stuff, so not very eco friendly. Someone has recently pointed out that heroine should get Fairtrade and Organic ratings as the farmers get a fair price and no chemicals are used. Ironically the best selling FMCG product in the States by value is not Coke but Cocaine. But I’m deviating. You certainly can’t knock the festivals for recycling – The Police (Hyde Park), Shakin’ Stevens (Glastonbury) and Neil Young (The Hop Farm) are all back. But on a more serious note, some are even paying for bags of waste! Leeds and Reading are giving away a free can of beer in exchange for three bags of rubbish (seems a bit pricey for a can of Carling). Isle of Wight, Glastonbury, V Festival, Hyde Park, Global Gathering, The Big Chill – there’s over 30 this year - and the rest have all become over commercialised events. Great for advertisers but is it really rock ‘n’ roll? The Hop Farm festival (Sunday, July 6th) is organised by Vince Power (formerly of the Mean Fiddler Group). It boasts ‘no sponsorship, branding or VIP areas, just great music.’ So no Carling then. It certainly delivers on the music with 8 great acts and Neil Young headlining. With deep greens becoming more vocal about consumerism being at the heart of planetary decay, could this be the start of a turn against the over commercialisation of music events? Carling, who have pumped a lot of money into the music scene to sell their limp lager have also come under criticism in the past for reducing choice. Festival goers don’t want to be told they can only drink this brand or eat that brand. A new survey by Buckinghamshire New University (sample of 1400) has revealed that 48% of festival goers would be happy to pay more for a ticket if the festival in question was more environmentally friendly. A third said that a festival’s greeness was a factor when buying a ticket. Almost all (80%) said they believed that noise, waste and traffic have a negative impact on the environment. What is shocking is that 20% didn’t (maybe they were too stoned at the time). 56 % now consider CO2 a negative impact from festivals. Not well known is that 75% of the UK music industry's greenhouse are a results of live events. However, 65% agreed that if their favourite band was playing they’d go even if the festival wasn’t green at all. Seems music rocks over environment. There is also a trend by festival goers to leave the VW Camper at home and use public transport or opt for car sharing – Creamfields are encouraging visitors to share via liftshare.com. While Latitude Festival were claiming to have the world's first fuel-cell powered festival stage, while others are running solar power stages. For green festival goers you can now get eco-tents. The Myhab, is made from recycled cardboard and plastic. Add to that, you can get free biodegradable tent pegs made from potato starch. Not sure what happens if it rains – visions of wet cardboard and mash potato come to mind. And those that dump their tent at the end, because they can’t work out how to put it back in the bag, will find them heading to Africa to help charities over there. Since 2005 “Bin it, bag it, recycle it” has been the message at Glastonbury and the 100 comically dressed ‘Green Police’ will be seen patrolling around trying to spot environmental crimes. They are also pushing a ‘love the farm, leave no trace’ message. Gone are greasy hot dog stands selling dubious meat burgers, in now is good health organic, locally produced veggie burger. Traders can even win their own green trader award – last year it was Ecogagets and Chai Wallahs. Wychwood Festival (several weeks ago) boast some of the greenest credentials. Only local traders can trade and must use local, organic and fair trade goods. And every festival goer gets a recycle bag on entry, handy if it rains and you’ve lost your umbrella. Last year’s winner of ‘A Greener Festival Award’ was The Big Session, who work closely with a community recycling group called The Big Wasters. They do a lot of worthy things, including collecting used oil and turning it into biofuel. Scotland’s T in the Park claims to be the world’s biggest carbon neutral festival. Think I’ll start a band and call it Carbon Neutral, then maybe I can claim a headline listing there. They have a battery recycling exchange in the campsite and are asking campers to use only phosphate-site soap to protect Loch Leven, sited by the festival. However, the one event that attracts me most is not the thought of standing in a muddy field watching some ancient act from the 60’s but Vince Power’s Mighty Boosh comedy festival. Talking of comedy, forget Carling, try a dose of George Carlin and his views on environmentalism (YouTube - George Carlin: Jammin' in New York - 1992 ) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIXygZJhWU8&feature=related He rocks.