Especially interesting from a marketing point of view, here is a short summary of the recent Dove –> Greenpeace –> Backlash –> Social Change chain-of-events.
First: Dove, in an ongoing move to position itself as a “positive body image” brand in a beauty-focused industry, created an ad. The spot, titled “Onslaught,” powerfully illustrates the way media images in culture bombard women from a young age resulting in unrealistic perceptions of beauty.
Then: Greenpeace saw a chance to loudly call ‘foul.’ They created an “Onslaught” parody ad depicting the destruction of Indonesian rainforests for palm oil, a key ingredient in Dove (and many other company’s) products. This segment, which swaps a cute, dark-haired (presumably Indonesian) girl for the cute, red-haired one from the Dove original, is titled “Onslaught(er).”
Within a week: “Onslaught(er)” was viewed over 250,000 times after being posted on Youtube. Perhaps speaking to the power and quality of the ad, response was strong.
Today: The Wall Street Journal reports that Unilever, the parent company that owns and operates Dove, has pledged to only buy palm oil from suppliers able to prove they haven’t cut down forests.
While it’s fantastic that Dove is changing its ways, many companies use palm oil in their products. The assumption is that at least some (maybe a majority) are getting it from forest-destroying suppliers. So while it doesn’t provide the full picture when Greenpeace singles out Dove as a target, it is amazing to stand back and watch a campaign like this work so quickly and effectively.
How many of you drink from a Nalgene bottle?What’s the number within the triangle on the bottom?If you’ve got the wrong number down there you may be putting yourself at risk.
You’ve probably seen something in the news lately that some plastics are getting a lot of negative press; most notably, drinking bottles made with hard plastic. This all surrounds a chemical known as Bisphenol A to the chemists and engineers or “BPA” on the streets.This chemical has been shown to leach out of common plastics and cause health issues ranging from behavioral issues to irregular breast growth.
What can we do about it? Be aware that the Nalgene that most of us are drinking out of is probably contributing to our BPA intake.Also know is that not all Nalgenes are created equal.The hard polycarbonate plastics are what we want to stay away from (#7 on the bottom).The soft cloudy plastic Nalgenes (#2 in the bottom) are considered to be the safest and you’ll be happy to know that in light of the elevated attention to BPAs Nalgene is discontinuing production on their polycarbonate bottles.
BPAs are found in more places than water bottles though. Food cans, baby bottles and the fillings in our teeth also contribute to BPAs in our body.Check out the resources below for more information.
Last week, KeepGreenGoing had the opportunity to sit down with publisher and editor-in-chief, Kelly Magill, to discuss her new and upcoming women’s magazine Positively Green.
Kelly, how did the whole idea for Positively Green come about?
Well, one of my sales people called me this fall. She told me “Kelly, You’ve got to do something this fall. We’ve got to think of another magazine to put together. Why don’t you do a green magazine – That’s your thing… You’re so into it.” So the more I thought about it I really started to consider a regional publication on green topics for women. When I called my distributor they liked the idea so much about a women’s magazine focused specifically on green issues they told me I really need to do this on a national level, not regionally. And.. That was it. That’s how it all got started.
More and more we’re seeing green magazines pop up. What would you say makes your magazine different?
First of all, most environmental magazines are written for men and women both. There’s nothing out there written specifically for women. Also 90% of women describe themselves as the primary household buyer. So as a gender we’ve got so much ability, even in grocery shopping, to decide what companies we’ll support with our money and what companies we won’t support. And I’ve noticed, with this enormous ability, no one is talking to these women. Another thing I think that’s happening is the fact that there’s a huge group of mainstream women who are interested in doing things a little more green. But when they pick up magazines and read articles there’s nothing that really addresses what the solutions are. So if you have a peanut butter container and you want to recycle it, but don’t know how it should be properly cleaned out - What do you do to clean it? Ya know – It’s about what are the simple solutions you can do everyday to change your thinking and your buying habits. How do you change so you can buy more green… in fashion, in travel, with sending your kids back to school. And I just don’t think that’s happening to that degree yet, where it’s really focused on women’s daily lives and how we live, how we accomplish the tasks we have to do everyday in a simplified way.
That’s great. Here at KeepGreenGoing, we try to focus on simple solutions as well. What else have you noticed lately in regards to green publications?
Another thing that’s been happening lately is there’s been several articles in the past few months about bottled water and how the greener option is to filter your tap water. Those are all great articles… But as a very busy women the thing that those articles failed to do was to direct me the products that would solve the problem. Most women are too busy to go research which filer is the best. If someone can give them the article where they can make the decision and say “Okay, I really want to eliminate bottled water” - They got the article on one page and on the very next page there are the products you can buy, here is where you get them, this is how much they cost. Now, these women no longer have a barrier to this decision in there life to eliminate bottled water. And I don’t think that’s something a lot of people are doing yet – is giving women very specific details and tools to make the necessary change.
The staff at KeepGreenGoing would like to thank Kelly for her time in this interview. Even though we’re not women, we’re really stoked for this magazine to hit newsstands. Please take some time and check out the Positively Green Website. You can even download a sample of the first issue.
Other useful information regarding Positively Green:
Launch
First issue – August (All major bookstores, Whole-Foods and Wal-Mart)
Pre-Subscribe
Get the magazine even before it hits newsstands. A subscription (4 issues total) cost is $14 for the year. Of that $14 Positively Green will give $2 to the eco-charity of your choice.
Ever ponder how everyday choices you make impact our earth? There are magnitudes of choices we make everyday that create a significant difference for our planet. Everything you eat. Everything you drink. Everything you use. Your entire life’s consumption. What does all “that” really look like?
Thanks to the National Geographic Channel, they’re about to show us. Add a new event to your iCal, set a reminder in your BlackBerry, or jot down a note on your computer for April 13 at 9PM ET/PT. National Geographic presents HUMAN FOOTPRINT hosted by Elizabeth Vargas.
According to the Website, Human Footprint does not just show you how many hamburgers you will eat in a lifetime, but traces those hamburgers back to the farm where the cattle were raised. The film then shows the resources it took to raise those cows and bring the meat to market. It literally traces the lifecycle of that one hamburger (plus many other products we eat/use on a daily basis).
Here’s a quick look at some of the facts presented in The Human Footprint:
In your lifetime, you will take 28,433 showers. That’s a lot of time standing around under water
Americans will generate 246 million tons of trash this year along
We will throw away 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars
We will throw away 36 billion aluminum cans
The packaging alone of products accounts for 33% of the trash we create.
If you’re a visual person like myself, this documentary will certainly show you the truth behind our daily actions and consumptions. KeepGreenGoing’s hope is that you will take the time to watch, learn and act. After all, documentaries can show us fact after fact… but if we don’t act upon what we’ve learned, we’re not changing a thing. So please, watch this and prepare yourself for the truth of what a real human footprint looks like.
Often, the green community enjoys discussing tips on going green, new green products out on the market and companies that are making a green impact. Today’s article speaks more on a humanitarian level. It speaks about making a difference in a community through a simple, practical device. Sometimes, the first step for people to go green requires them to be enabled through a simple solution.
The Hippo Roller, from Project H Design, does just that. It frees up people’s time for more productive economic activities.
The Hippo Roller is a simple rolling barrel device that allows communities that depend on the daily fetching of water to more easily access and transport their daily water supply, and reduce the risk of long-term bodily injuries. The roller holds 3-4 days worth of water for a family of 7, which is 5 times the amount of water that can be moved using traditional methods.
The Hippo Roller gives going green a whole new meaning. It enables communities by the masses, it’s a very simple device and it’s practical. Most importantly, it keeps the green life going. What intrigues me the most about the Hippo Roller is its impact for the greater good of a community.
Love the Do Not Call registry? Wish there was something similar for junk mail?
American mailboxes are inundated with junk mail. More than 100,000,000,000 pieces of junk mail are delivered each year. If you do the math, that’s more than 800 pieces of junk mail per household. I think it’s time for a national Do Not Mail Registry!
Luckily, there’s an organization taking the stance and launching the movement: DoNotMail.org.
In 2003, Congress created the national Do Not Call Registry, the most popular consumer rights bill in history. Today, DoNotMail.org has launched a comparable registry to end the ambush of junk mail. Currently, they are counting names on a petition (20,000 and counting) to show the government and direct mail industry that there needs to be an easy way to opt out of junk mail.
Junk mail in the United States accounts for 1/3 of all mail delivered in the world. Even though 44% of that mail goes to the landfill unopened, people spend 8 months of their lives dealing with it all. Junk mail invades our homes, wastes our time and destroys the environment:
The greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the manufacturing of the 6.5 million tons of paper required for junk mail annually is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emission of 3.7 million cars.
More than 100 million trees a year are cut down and made into paper for junk mail. Those trees come from Endangered Forests like Canada’s Boreal and Indonesia’s rainforests - forests that play a critical role in the fight against global warming.
Just as the Do Not Call Registry liberated Americans from telemarketers, a Do Not Mail Registry would give us the choice to halt junk mailers from violating our privacy, wasting our time and damaging the environment.
Free your house from junk mail and sign the Do Not Mail registry petition. Take a stance and help save the environment. It’s time to end the junk mail catastrophe.
“Renewal,” a documentary by Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller opened this past weekend at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This documentary traces the rise in environmental activism among religious communities throughout America. In rural communities, suburbs and cities, people of faith are rolling up their sleeves in practical and far-reaching ways. Offering a profound message of hope, Renewal shows individuals and communities driven by the deepest source of inspiration - their spiritual and religious convictions - being called to re-examine what it means to be human and how we live on this planet. Throughout, Renewal attempts to paint an honest picture of how much work will be needed to stem the tide of environmental devastation. Its compelling characters and stories inspire the vision and commitment that addressing the challenge will require. The 90-minute documentary is designed for theatrical and community screenings, and for broadcast, yet each of Renewal’s eight stories also stands on its own.
