|
Environmental do-goodism.
Customers can't buy it. Shareholders can't invest in it. But a growing list of big-name companies appear to be spending ever-bigger chunks of their advertising budgets to promote it.
A General Electric elephant, for one, high-stepped on national television right after the company introduced its Ecomagination line of products last May, dancing for joy at how GE is "in step with nature." It has been followed by four product-specific environmental ads and a spate of print ads, and the company has a fresh Ecomagination campaign planned for next year. (BBDO, owned by the Omnicom Group, is the agency.)
Then there's BP (it stopped being British Petroleum in 2000). "BP on the Street" interviews on energy and environment-related topics have been part of its corporate advertising since 2001. This month, BP set up an Alternative Energy unit, and it is now running two- and three-page ads in major newspapers devoted just to that. (the WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather unit in New York does these ads.)
Even companies tarred as "dirty" by environmentalists are braving the inevitable catcalls and running green ads.
Ford Motor - like other automakers often castigated by environmental groups for making gas guzzlers and opposing many proposed state laws aimed at fuel efficiency - has been running advertisements promoting its planned lines of hybrid and flexible-fuel cars. (These ads are an effort of Ogilvy & Mather Detroit and Penn Schoen & Berland, both units of WPP.)
And ExxonMobil, which is still plagued by references to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska waters in 1989, has made environmental issues the cornerstone of the "advertorial" columns it pays to run on newspaper op-ed pages. The company has also run several new commercials and print ads created by the TM Advertising unit of the Interpublic Group.
"The energy challenge is a critical societal issue, and we feel that it's our responsibility as the industry leader to communicate about it," said Russ Roberts, an ExxonMobil spokesman.
Companies have reached that decision for various reasons: Oil companies, under attack for reaping windfall profits from soaring fuel prices, are trying to position themselves as part of the solution to energy problems rather than the cause. Manufacturers of fuel-efficient automobiles, jet engines or other green products are recognizing that they can burnish their image even as they promote their products. And companies in all industries are trying to make socially conscious investors and customers comfortable about buying their products and shares.
"Investors choose whose stock to buy; consumers choose whose gas they buy; and governments choose who gets their contracts," said Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, which alternates "Beyond Petroleum" and "It's a Start" as its tag lines. "We're going to invest $8 billion in alternative energy in the next 10 years, so, of course, we're advertising that."
Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a nonprofit group, said, "It seems that major corporations have finally decided that environmental consciousness is an important part of building their image and their brand."
Some environmentalists are heartened by the spate of green advertising, as long as the hyperbole is tempered. "When BP says 'It's a Start,' it's acknowledging that even the positive steps they are taking are not enough, so we really can't criticize them for not doing more right away," said Michelle Chan-Fishel, program manager for green investments at Friends of the Earth. "In that sense, it's really a clever campaign."
Conversely, environmentalists do turn gimlet-eyed when they think a surfeit of boasts masks a dearth of action. "Too often, it's just greenwash," said Michael J. Brune, executive director for the Rainforest Action Network. "Sure, some companies can justifiably advertise their good actions," said Mr. Brune, mentioning GE.
"But too many," he said, "are seeking maximum accolades for minimum change. You look beyond the green sheen, and Ford's actions don't match its rhetoric."
Ford, of course, takes umbrage at that. "We are extremely committed to the environment, because we are committed to providing affordable transportation in every sense," said Becky Sanch, a Ford spokeswoman.
|
|
