Commericalization of 'green'

T

Texas007

1,000+ Posts
this is not to get into political argument on the merits of global warming and all that. This is about everywhere I go now, and virtually everything I see is marketed as "green". The issue here is that I am wondering how much of it acually is green, and how much is just a bunch of hogwash packaging aimed at playing to our instincts to protect mother Earth in any way we can. How much is just feel good marketing but really offers little to nothing in the way of actual results as fas as reducing whatever bad enviro things it claims to be impacting. My bet is a majority of this is just total bunk. I have grown weary of it all honestly (the marketing itself not the actual principle behind it).
 
Yeah, it seems like all the marketing companies came up with the idea at the same time, and now we're all seeing it all at once. It does get a little old.
 
Read an intersting article that the next big thing in marketing is "Authentic". i.e. Chipolte uses "Authentic" ingredients (a.k.a organic/all natural).The Link

This concept is selling really well right now also. Look out for the words Authentic, Traditional, Organic etc.
 
So organic is just a marketing term...wow.

You could take 10 organic broccoli crowns, and 10 conventionally grown broccoli crowns and mix them together. I would wager my success rate in picking out the organic broccoli would be 100%.
It tastes better, looks better, and it won't kill me.

Oh, and by the way, Happy Earth Day!!!
 
Don't forget "Vintage'. Like Vintage wine or Vintage drapes. Like other wines aren't made from grapes? Or curtains from cotton? It is like a classier name for "old". Somehow antique doesn't have the ummpph it used to.
 
I'm puzzling over the Astros playing a "green" game tonight, wearing green caps, with displays and such. Do people really believe that they give a flip? I don't.

It'd be more of a challenge if they did it in July, when the temperature and humidity was in the 90s.
 
Some of the terms do carry a bit of weight.

USDA certified Organic is ok, but basically worthless as a measure of true organic products. There are other organic certifying groups that actually make sure things are organic. USDA Organic is better than nothing though.

If a term doesn't come with some sort of certification or at least has easy to decipher ingredients, it's worthless.
 
Too me, 'organic' isn't so much about flavor (although I agree it does taste better). I just like the idea of NOT PUMPING pesticides and hormones into my body. Have you noticed how 'developed' young ladies are today. Have you noticed how cancer rates have risen over the decades. It all ties back to what we put in our bodies.

I'm not one to fall for silly marketing campaigns, but I do believe locally grown organic groceries is the way to go.
 
So let me see if I've got this right...

Much of the environmental movement is in direct conflict with corporations, capitalism, etc... But, now the capitalists are using "green" marketing to make more money?
Awesome.
 
my company (a fortune 500 hotel chain) just announced (internally) it's green policy this week. while i respect the need for such things and the thought behind it.... telling every person at every office to stop printing out EVERYTHING would probably make a bigger difference than anything else we could do.
 
not only that, but there's so much misinformation in the general public about it. i'm not a treehugger, but i'm starting to pay attention to this kind of stuff. there's a show on diy network called "greenovate" about people who renovate their homes following "green" standards. one of the shows the woman is showing off her reverse osmosis water filtration system. wtf? RO systems waste about 5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of filtered water. her reason it was "green" was that she didn't want her kids drinking the chemicals in tap water. that's not "green" that's just personal health issues.
 
To be fair, good home insulation, efficient appliances (why do refrigerators transfer heat to the air inside your home- the same air that you are expending energy to cool?) and fluorescent lights will be as important as generation technologies in moving us to renewable energy.

Suburbs are the chief enemy of "greeness" in America.
 
agreed with OP. many entities see the potential for more sales or higher margins on "organic" or "green" products and may do minute things to distinguish between their 'green' product and their conventional product. I think its up to the consumer to decipher which 'green' products are actually better for the environmnent.

I mean recycled paper is great, but doesn't that process produce more pollution than regular paper production? if so , is it really better?
 
Corporations are out to make a buck. Anyone's finding it surprising or even noteworthy that marketing includes the buzzwords we popularize seems a bit daft.

Organic is not inherently good. When humans had an entirely organic lifestyle, we died decades younger, on average. There are plenty of organic, natural, poisonous substances. The NTG that helps treat acute coronary syndrome is found nowhere in nature. With that said, loading foods with sex hormones and synthetic poisons may not be as benign as some would have us think.
 
I think organic food is stupid. Does it have some health benefits? Maybe. But in the long run, you're going to spend a lot more for your food. A LOT MORE.

However, I think going green is legit. Even if global warming isn't real, pollution is.
 
I would be interested to see verifiable, blinded, randomized, controlled trials demonstrating exactly which health problems are associated with which processes and treatments associated with the food chain. To suggest that nothing artificial we do in growing and preparing food makes it superior is a far-reaching and, to date, unfounded claim.

Trace amounts of the chemicals that many so fear in "traditional" foods appear in organics as well (granted, typically at lower levels). Chemically fertilized vegetables are less likely to than organically done ones to have potentially lethal contamination with E. coli or Salmonella.

Clearly, there are things one does not want in his food. Argument categorically, though, that organic foods are superior to all others, will require far more than personal opinion, even popularly held, to sway me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top