I've already posted about the atrocities committed in the name of Earth Day by Oriental Trading Company and Gymboree, but a quick look around on the Internet showed me many, many companies doing things market-y but not particularly love-thy-earth-y.
Just a few of the many examples:
- Target is holding a Refresh Your Nest contest (part of their entire Earth Month!). And while the premise is that the Grand Prize Makeover will make your home more "sustainable" it's also worth up to $50,000 so I'm guessing it's going to include a lot of new items, which aren't exactly earth-friendly.
- FAO Schwartz is selling a line of Greenzys stuffed animals, such as Peat the Penguin.
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| Photo from FAOSchwartz.com |
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| Photo from FAOSchwartz.com |
- And Disney. Thank you, Disney for never letting me down when it comes to exploiting a marketing opportunity whether it is Earth Day or a new Mom in the hospital. It was hard to choose from the character laden totes, tees, mugs and water bottles. Thank goodness there is a photo of them all together in (that's right!) the online Earth Day Store - with the tag line I helped the Planet today. Really? Does buying more stuff you don't really need help the planet just because it's under the guise of reusable?
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| Photo from DisneyStore.com |
This is my last post complaining about dumb marketing for Earth Day. I'm moving on to dumb marketing for Mother's Day.
It just keeps getting worse and worse. I've never paid attention to these bad marketing tactics before. Thank you again for pointing all of this out!
ReplyDeletethanks for your comments - i hadn't noticed any of this before either, but since i started looking, ugh, i see it everywhere!
ReplyDeleteYou are my heroine. Keep rocking the truth.
ReplyDeleteLisa D.
Lucky for me I like the color green. I guess if people were going to buy a stuffed animal *anyway* or a reusable tote *anyway* - it's not so bad. But first in the mantra is REDUCE, which has, sadly, lost to REUSE lately.
ReplyDeleteGreat series of posts to keep us ALL on our toes. (Sorry for the caps, I have no idea how to make italics and bold in comments.)
So true! When I think about all the crap that gets marketed as "eco" I want to throw up my hands in despair. Can you say "missed the point?" It would be great if there were just some big online place somewhere that people could list all the ridiculous marketing ploys and products, in the name of eco/conservo/save a cause-o...You know, buy this 85$ t-shirt and we'll send 1$ to some poor kid somewhere. That sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree. But, I must shamefully admit that when I got to the Barbie shoes, my heart did a little flip and i completely forgot what I was reading about for a minute. I am sorry.
ReplyDeleteha! my elizabeth-trap worked. i knew you wouldn't be able to withstand. i appreciate your honesty. i notice jill has said nothing and i think we all know someone else who hearts those tiny shoes. (not me, of course)
ReplyDelete