Teeswater News – Online! » Our Earth » Just Say No!

Just Say No!

Dec
3
2008

When was the last time you heard or saw a commercial that told you NOT to buy their product?

In an interesting article on the Off The Grid website, Sir Martin Sorrell links our rabid appetite for new products, even when our old whatever is still highly functional, to climate change. Until a few years ago this kind of statement would have been from the realm of the Crunchy Granola Tree-Hugger Anti-Global Commerce types. But now with the cost of producing new products not only being measured in dollars and cents but also in terms of the energy requirements the notion that our over-consumption is directly affecting the climate is becoming mainstream.

This statement is even more chilling given that Sir Martin Sorrell is the founder and CEO of WPP, the world’ No 2 advertising group after Omnicom.

Sir Martin Sorrell accuses companies like Apple of being the cause of this ‘super consumption’. “The continual manufacture and disposal of electronic items like the iPod, sometimes used for little more than a year, is placing a burden on the environment that it is not able to bear. It is fostering a mindset of super-consumption, where expensive items made at vast cost to the earth’s resources quickly become unfashionable and are not expected to last. This is no doubt profitable in the short term, but it is not sustainable and it is not responsible.”

Sorrell concludes: “Our view, which is counter to what you expect our industry to argue, is that conspicuous consumption is not productive, and should be discouraged.”

WOW! an advertising industry executive actually telling us we might NOT need to buy the latest and greatest.

“Truly Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!” 

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Mark W. Law has been a writing and journalism fanatic since he was first tagged to write a 3 act ’shadow play’ – in Grade 2! Originally from the wee hamlet of Oyster Bay, BC, Mark has worked in many parts of the world, including almost all of the Canadian provinces, the United States, Europe and even a sand-filled radio station in North Africa. During that time he has written for military and local newspapers, served as editor for a number of online magazines as well as publishing his own popular ezine for new writers and artists – The ThinWire Journal. Mark has also penned more than 100 poems and essays and is an internationally known digital artist. And for anyone who lived in Northern BC during the 1980’s and 1990’s, Mark was the ‘morning weatherman’ on CBC Radio. Opinions expressed in ‘the View’ are his own and do not necessarily reflect Teeswater or Teeswater.Ca.

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Teeswater News – Online! » In The News » Just Say No!

Just Say No!

Dec
3
2008

When was the last time you heard or saw a commercial that told you NOT to buy their product?

In an interesting article on the Off The Grid website, Sir Martin Sorrell links our rabid appetite for new products, even when our old whatever is still highly functional, to climate change. Until a few years ago this kind of statement would have been from the realm of the Crunchy Granola Tree-Hugger Anti-Global Commerce types. But now with the cost of producing new products not only being measured in dollars and cents but also in terms of the energy requirements the notion that our over-consumption is directly affecting the climate is becoming mainstream.

This statement is even more chilling given that Sir Martin Sorrell is the founder and CEO of WPP, the world’ No 2 advertising group after Omnicom.

Sir Martin Sorrell accuses companies like Apple of being the cause of this ‘super consumption’. “The continual manufacture and disposal of electronic items like the iPod, sometimes used for little more than a year, is placing a burden on the environment that it is not able to bear. It is fostering a mindset of super-consumption, where expensive items made at vast cost to the earth’s resources quickly become unfashionable and are not expected to last. This is no doubt profitable in the short term, but it is not sustainable and it is not responsible.”

Sorrell concludes: “Our view, which is counter to what you expect our industry to argue, is that conspicuous consumption is not productive, and should be discouraged.”

WOW! an advertising industry executive actually telling us we might NOT need to buy the latest and greatest.

“Truly Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!” 

Print Friendly

avatar

Written by

Mark W. Law has been a writing and journalism fanatic since he was first tagged to write a 3 act ’shadow play’ – in Grade 2! Originally from the wee hamlet of Oyster Bay, BC, Mark has worked in many parts of the world, including almost all of the Canadian provinces, the United States, Europe and even a sand-filled radio station in North Africa. During that time he has written for military and local newspapers, served as editor for a number of online magazines as well as publishing his own popular ezine for new writers and artists – The ThinWire Journal. Mark has also penned more than 100 poems and essays and is an internationally known digital artist. And for anyone who lived in Northern BC during the 1980’s and 1990’s, Mark was the ‘morning weatherman’ on CBC Radio. Opinions expressed in ‘the View’ are his own and do not necessarily reflect Teeswater or Teeswater.Ca.

Filed under: In The News
Tags: , , ,

Comments are closed.

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This work by Mark W. Law & The Teeswater.Ca Team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.