alittlepoison

Ask most alittlepoison.com contributors whether they like advertising and the answer will be a resounding ‘no’, but why don’t we like it? Perhaps because of its in-your-face-ness, or perhaps because it sells things we view to be harmful (like more chocolate bars to fat kids; more Jeeps to Londoners). But what if it was used to push vital issues in everyone’s face? This is a consumer culture and I strongly believe that if the world’s best advertisers and designers clubbed together on the campaign of all campaigns, they could drastically reduce carbon emissions. It is wrong to think that ‘eco-credentials’ need to come from a massive shift of ethical perspective. All people in heavily advert-laden societies need to be persuaded to buy into a low carbon-emission lifestyle like they would any other. You can change their morals later, after the crisis has been slowed. The Advertising Council in America say they’re onto it. There are some real adverts on global-warming to watch here. Some of them are good, though who has ever seen them before? This needs to be on prime time TV, on the big motorway billboards, on the side of the bus. The Guardian ran a good comment on global warming denial adverts.