Don't mess with the crabcakes.
Remember when green was the new black? Everybody and their genetically engineered dogs were claiming to be environmentally friendly and/or conscious. It seems like only yesterday. Actually, it was only yesterday.
Recently I was distressed to hear some advertisers say, “Green is so over-used.” And, “Don’t you think the public is getting a little tired of this whole green thing?” That’s like saying that whole anti-drinking and driving message is getting a little passé. True, we are being bombarded with environmental messaging but we need the onslaught lest we forget why we started this war on waste and global warming in the first place.
Perhaps green marketing is so overdone it has become its own form of pollution. A lot of it does stink. Green advertising and marketing, as with any other category, has a tendency to grow stale and cliché. Even worse, many green advertisers don’t live up to their claims. This too is nothing new. But we can’t afford to drop it because some no longer perceive it to be credible, cool or lucrative. We need to continue to fight the good fight. After all, no less than the world is at stake. That means us on the creative side of the ad biz need to keep the green message fresh and above all, honest.
My favorite examples of ads that do this well are those done for the Chesapeake Club. Instead of appealing to hearts and minds, they hit us in the stomach and the funny bone. They get their point across without being preachy. And they get noticed. Maybe they even change minds and alter behavior. If there were more green advertising of this caliber, the world would be a better, if not greener, place.
(Image from the Chesapeake Club.)
