Publicizing Sustainability

"Any publicity is good publicity." How does this ring true (or not) for sustainability ideals, principles and initiatives in our culture?

First of all, I would just like to put it out there that making sustainability an ingrained and normative part of our culture is ideal. To that end, creating a positive buzz around it is wonderful - but it is my hope that polarizing views of sustainability created by certain flavors of publicity meet a swift end.

What I mean by this is something my peers and I called "shockvertising" in my Visualizing Sustainability class (talk about concept development issues, am I right, art directors and IMC-ers?) Examples of this abound in some of the more liberal environmental groups that tend to push the envelope when it comes to picturing environmental issues for the public.

First up, the Canadian group, AdBusters and their "Plane Stupid" campaign to raise awareness around the carbon footprint associated with airline flights. In this ad, polar bears fall from the sky and meet a sticky end on the pavement below. The concept is the connection between a warming planet caused by green house gas emissions and a melting ice caps on which Polar Bears claim residence. The message is that our actions are killing polar bears directly.

Second up is an ad that involves the Barnardo campaign for children born into poverty*. Based on the old adage pertaining to wealthy children, “born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” this campaign’s slogan is: “there are no silver spoons for children born into poverty,” and show Rockwell-esqe style ads of a newborn with either a bottle of poison or a cockroach in its mouth. The campaign instigated an outcry that the images were “irresponsible and offensive” (Gomes, 2010, pp. 1).

These campaigns are described as being “culture-jammers”, or ads that run counter to traditional consumer messages (Cohen, 2005, pp.63). Though they get the point across albeit bluntly, they can also desensitize or even anger viewers who may not respond well to these messages, given the nature of their uncomfortable imagery or jarring language.

Though these campaigns in no way generated the types of publicity environmental disasters like the BP spill generated, they still created a stir. If we are trying to promote a positive image of a sustainable future, not all publicity for sustainability should be considered good publicity. Sustainability is not yet a cultural norm; this brings about the paradox of its urgency versus approaching it sensitively to encourage audience adoption - instead of with the sledgehammer of regulation, our other option.

Cohen M., Comrov A., & Hoffner B. (2005). The new politics of consumption: promoting sustainability in the American marketplace. Sustainability: Science,  Practice, & Policy 1(1):58-76.

Gomes, Luisa Amanda. (2010, March 24) The barnardo campaign against child poverty raises eyebrows. Trend Hunter Marketing. Retrieved from             http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/barnardo-campaign-against-child-poverty