Cmns 100 - the Green Advertising Conundrum

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As a business student, one of the first concepts that I learned at school was that the main objective of any business lies in profit making. Profit maximization is the ultimate goal, and corporates should operate with an efficiency and effectiveness compared to none to achieve that goal. In today’s competitive market, corporate firms have realized the importance of portraying themselves as socially and environmentally conscious. They see dollar signs in environmentalism. This is not to say that business are manipulative forces of nature that only exist to cut through our pockets of income and go to great lengths just to achieve profit. Rather, the dilemma lies in the desire to appear environmentally friendly and the ability to operate in an environmentally friendly manner and still maintain acceptable profit margins (Goldman & Papson, 1996). Well, there are two sides to a coin, and while businesses are not justified in their approach towards consumers, they must learn to be environmentally conscious. Francois Hollande, the president of France, could not have not put it any better, “businesses have to realize that there’s a mission on hand, to hand on the planet to the next generation.” There is a growing sense of distrust between consumers and businesses, and rightfully so. It is up to the corporates to try to find the right balance between profitability and being environmentally responsible. Preserving resources is of the utmost importance, especially for sustaining the foundations of life on Earth. In Michael Porter’s words, one of the most celebrated business gurus, “businesses must reconnect company success with social progress.” Simply put, businesses can do well by doing public good.

Advertising first sold the idea that identity is a product of how we consume, a product of the community badges we choose to wear (Goldman & Papson, 1996). Through sleek corporate advertising, we consume commodities in general rather than consuming to meet specific needs (Goldman & Papson, 1996). The American Dream, or whatever you may like to call it, the result is the same, we all seek a lifestyle filled with luxuries. On average, each individual is consuming far more than an individual of fifty years ago (Taylor & Tilford, 2000). Overconsumption is a serious problem impacting our environment, and in our quest to seek a higher standard of living, we have failed to conserve resources, and in turn have put our future generations’ wealth of resources in massive jeopardy. We are currently using far more of the Earth’s resources than the Earth has to offer (Taylor & Tilford, 2000). Skyrocketing consumption is rapidly depleting the Earth’s ecosystems, robbing future generations of vital life-sustaining resources (Taylor & Tilford, 2000). It is evident that people do believe that change is important, given that 90 percent of the Canadians have made some move towards being environmentally friendly. Green consumerism is not destructive, since there are some necessities that we must consume and purchase in everyday life (Budinsky & Bryant, 2013). However, green consumer is not the final answer. Paired with purchasing green products is the drastic need to reduce our overall consumption of the Earth’s resources (Budinsky & Bryant, 2013). Elon Musk powerfully described the situation we have in hand and I quote “We are running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe”. These potent words describe the sheer magnitude of the issue, and if we are to survive, we have to substantially alternate our way of thinking about the environment.

Works Cited

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