Environment

Pinkwashing: Can Shopping Cure Breast Cancer?

by Anne Landman — June 11, 2008 - 4:50pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Activism, Cause-Related Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Health, Women

    • You've heard the term "greenwashing." It refers to corporations that try to appear "green" without reducing their negative impact on the environment.

    Since 2002, the group Breast Cancer Action has promoted its "Think Before You Pink" campaign. It's fighting "pinkwashing," which is when corporations try to boost sales by associating their products with the fight against breast cancer. Pinkwashing is a form of slacktivism -- a campaign that makes people feel like they're helping solve a problem, while they're actually doing more to boost corporate profits. Pinkwashing has been around for a while, but is now reaching almost unbelievable levels.

    What's Green on the Outside and Has a Hummer on the Inside?

    by Anne Landman — June 9, 2008 - 2:25pm

    Discovery Communications is spending $100 million to re-make its home television network into "Planet Green," the first television channel devoted entirely to environmentally-themed programming.

    Main Source: 
    CNBC Media Money, June 3, 2008

    Two Unions Are Finding Deals at Wal-Mart

    by Sheldon Rampton — June 5, 2008 - 12:19pm

    "After waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company’s full-time, union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are putting down their cudgels," writes Michael Barbaro.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, June 5, 2008

    Corporate-Sponsored "Slacktivism": Bigger and More Dangerous than the Urban Dictionary Realizes

    by Anne Landman — June 2, 2008 - 3:10pm
  • Topics: Corporate Campaigns, Cause-Related Marketing, Front Groups, Corporations, Education, Environment, Ethics, Health, Propaganda, Public Relations, Women

    • Recently while browsing the Web I came across UrbanDictionary.com, which is sort of a wiki of contemporary slang. I found some of the newer words listed there amusing, like "hobosexual" (the opposite of metrosexual; someone who cares little about their looks), "consumerican," ("a particularly American brand of consumerism"), and "wikidemia" ("an academic work passed off as scholarly yet researched entirely on Wikipedia").

    GMA Is Fueling the Ethanol Backlash

    by Diane Farsetta — May 28, 2008 - 2:09pm

    The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) "has been leading an 'aggressive' public relations campaign ... in an effort to roll back ethanol mandates that passed in last year's energy bill," reports Anna Palmer.

    Main Source: 
    Roll Call, May 14, 2008

    Duck and Cover

    by Bob Burton — May 27, 2008 - 2:36am

    The Alberta government has hired crisis management guru Peter Sandman to help it defuse concerns over the environmental impact of the oilsands mining industry.

    Main Source: 
    Calgary Herald, May 25, 2008

    Thanks for the Mercury

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — May 22, 2008 - 2:42pm

    It isn't every day that a state's largest polluter is honored. It helps when the polluter -- and its buddies -- helped found and advise the group giving the award. The Maryland-based Wildlife Habitat Council gave biodiversity conservation awards to 21 companies, including the Lafarge cement plant in Ravena, New York. The award was for Lafarge's 150-acre Deer Mountain Nature Preserve. The honor was not publicized until the company came under fire for mercury contamination near a local high school.

    Main Source: 
    Times Union (Albany, NY), May 21, 2008

    Less Isn't Always More

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — May 22, 2008 - 1:28pm

    Comprehensive information about what chemicals are sprayed on food crops just got much harder to come by. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that they will no longer conduct and publish annual national surveys of "which states apply the most pesticides and where bug and weed killers are most heavily sprayed to help cotton, grapes and oranges grow." The report is used extensively by farmers, environmental advocates, chemical companies and even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Don Lipton, a spokesman for the American Farm Bureau, said "farmers will be subjected to conjecture and allegations about their use of chemicals and fertilizer. Given the historic concern about chemical use by consumers, regulators, activist groups and farmers, it's probably not an area where lack of data is a good idea." One fear is that information will only be available after there's been a problem. Steve Scholl-Buckwald of the Pesticide Action Network explained, "What we'll end up doing is understanding pesticide use through getting accident reports. And that's a lousy way to protect public health."

    Main Source: 
    Contra Costa Times, May 21, 2008
    Syndicate content