Advertisement, Grist, PSA

"Green Ad"
http://www.facebook.com/futurefriendly?utm_source=NA&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=futurefriendly

I found a very interesting advertisement by Tide which simply had a picture of a bottle of Tide with green letters saying “Join the Future Friendly Challenge”. The link went to a Facebook fan page for Future Friendly (social media=marketing). To me, this was a very thinly veiled attempt to drum up some positive publicity for Tide. The main propaganda techniques were “diversion” and “warm fuzzies”. The campaign has nothing to do with the product and its impacts and instead focuses on Proctor and Gamble’s “feel good” clean water campaign. In essence, Future Friendly is just a way to draw people in to all the ‘good work” that P & G is doing in the world and thus slyly convince people to use their products. They are trying to portray themselves to consumers as do-gooders who value helping others, not raking in big profits for themselves. Most people would admire an effort to help those in the developing world get fresh water and Tide is using this philanthropic image as their marketing tool. My question: what are P & G's corporate impacts on water quality. “By signing up for the Future Friendly Challenge you will receive conservation tips, expert advice, exclusive offers and Challenge updates. You’ll also learn more about the lives touched by fresh water in the developing world through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water.” What stuck out to me in this quotes is “exclusive offers”. Not only will get some info on water conservation and some nice news updates on P & G’s corporate social responsibility, you will receive advertising!

Grist
I chose to analyze the website, Grist. Grist fulfills its mission for change by providing news on environmental issues with a humorous, often sarcastic tone. They make light of the many problems we face, which perhaps help us handle them, rather than become too depressed to deal with them (which has undoubtedly happened to every environmentalist at times). Despite the silliness of the site, the news covers important national and international issues and addresses and analyzes many points of conflict/debate in the environmental field. It does a good job of providing meaningful journalism by probing for root causes of problems, different impacts, and analyzing different potential and chosen actions. I would say it plays an important role in informing the public and promoting environmental activism, while also serving to entertainment and lighten the mood. I think online activism can make a difference, though I have doubts about whether it can create change on its own. As far as informing people, it can definitely go a long way in filling that niche. The site is not especially interactive, though comments can be left by readers and they can join the discussion this way. They also welcome reader contributions to their content. Grist’s mission statement says that they make “lemonade out of the current climate apocalypse”, as well as use their “Clarity-o-Meter to draw out the real meaning behind green stories, and to connect big issues like climate change to daily life”. As far as this mission goes, I feel that they are doing an exceptional job.

PSA
Progress has somewhat stalled due to communication breakdown. Plans to film on Friday fell through, but that will have to be done this week. We should have all of our text completed by next class and hopefully will do the filming then or afterward so we can get to editing.