Communicating Nature: Ch 6&7 Response

The Ferrari logo correlates a fast car with a horse, but there is nothing environmentally friendly about a Ferrari.  The Jaguar may be a luxurious sports car, but it isn’t solar-powered.  Yeah, your Dodge Ram may be a hybrid, but it still runs on gasoline.  You’re greener than I am, but you ain’t green with a capital “g”.  We are all guilty.  I have nothing against hybrids and fully promote the positive step in the general direction of reducing our carbon footprint.  But as consumers in a capitalist society, we must be aware that nature has been totally manipulated by corporations and advertising agencies all around the world.  As Corbett notes, “nature is pristine, not endangered, and holds simple solutions to what are essentially complex dilemmas, lifestyles, and choices (148)”.  Maybe if we lived in a utopian society, this would actually hold some truth behind the advertisement.  However, our connection to the natural world has become a device through which mass media promotes happy and healthy living—even if it is at the expense of the natural world.  I seldom see an ad on television where nature is portrayed as just nature.  It almost always correlates with us being asked to buy a product—9 times out of 10 that will eventually lead to some sort of negative effect on the environment.  I find disturbing that a company can slap a “better for the environment” sticker on their product and make it seemingly more environmentally friendly.  Oh that box is made from 100% recycled materials?  I should definitely buy this for my son.  These products still promote consumption with minimal environmental effects.  The product rarely elaborates on how it benefits the environment.  It usually will provide the consumer with some arbitrary statistic with no accompanying information.  In my opinion, all companies—no matter how large—should have strict constraints when advertising their product.  Like Corbett mentions in Chapter 6, the “oxymoron of Green Advertising” should be completely removed from our society.  If the product doesn’t directly benefit the environment, it shouldn’t have any affiliation with being Green.  Our society banks off the extortion of animistic and natural imagery, yet gives very little back in hindsight.