The Connection Between Sustainability and Advertising
Mike Catherall
January 09, 2006
Sustainability boils down to the perpetuation of human life on this planet.
Advertising is often used to promote fashion on the backs of the oppressed, resource draining mass consumerism, ephemeral values and self-destructive habits.
So on the surface - they couldn't be more opposite.
However, advertising is an impartial non-entity. It is like electricity and it can be used to light up the world with something new and useful and interesting, or to set it on fire.
The classic poison-remedy model that advertisers use does just that. it injects poison into the population. By prying into our insecurities, and twisting the knife, it opens a wound that can only be healed by buying the product.
Fear, shame and shock campaigns operate in a similar manner. Needless to say, their work is to spread negativity and dangle an antidote before our eyes.
But it doesn't always need to be this way. More and more the model is changing to appeal to a mature consumer.
Advertising driven by greed appeals only to those with equally selfish intentions.
The boomers have reached a comfortable stage of their life and are no longer driven by finance alone. Their interests and subsequently the interests of the majority have shifted to enlightenment.
To appeal to the ethical consumer, we are no longer are speaking a language of avarice and wasteful consumption. The new crusade is to make the world a better place for all of humanity, and the way information is spread has to reflect this.
Here is a beautiful spot out of Peru. Magic
Advertising is often used to promote fashion on the backs of the oppressed, resource draining mass consumerism, ephemeral values and self-destructive habits.
So on the surface - they couldn't be more opposite.
However, advertising is an impartial non-entity. It is like electricity and it can be used to light up the world with something new and useful and interesting, or to set it on fire.
The classic poison-remedy model that advertisers use does just that. it injects poison into the population. By prying into our insecurities, and twisting the knife, it opens a wound that can only be healed by buying the product.
Fear, shame and shock campaigns operate in a similar manner. Needless to say, their work is to spread negativity and dangle an antidote before our eyes.
But it doesn't always need to be this way. More and more the model is changing to appeal to a mature consumer.
Advertising driven by greed appeals only to those with equally selfish intentions.
The boomers have reached a comfortable stage of their life and are no longer driven by finance alone. Their interests and subsequently the interests of the majority have shifted to enlightenment.
To appeal to the ethical consumer, we are no longer are speaking a language of avarice and wasteful consumption. The new crusade is to make the world a better place for all of humanity, and the way information is spread has to reflect this.
Here is a beautiful spot out of Peru. Magic
Print
Email
