http://fromtherooftops.us/seeing-red-from-the-green-police/ Branding, Strategy, Consumer Insights and Trends Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:11:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://fromtherooftops.us/seeing-red-from-the-green-police/comment-page-1/#comment-45 Wayno Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:55:07 +0000 http://fromtherooftops.us/?p=318#comment-45 Another thoughtful piece of commentary. I had many of the same thoughts and knew the ad was successful from a meme perspective because I remembered it was for Audi. As for "good" or "bad" for the "green/sustainability" movement...like the background of this blog, it's somewhere in the gray area. Another thoughtful piece of commentary. I had many of the same thoughts and knew the ad was successful from a meme perspective because I remembered it was for Audi. As for “good” or “bad” for the “green/sustainability” movement…like the background of this blog, it’s somewhere in the gray area.

]]> http://fromtherooftops.us/seeing-red-from-the-green-police/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Jordan Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:36:06 +0000 http://fromtherooftops.us/?p=318#comment-33 Unfortunately, this seems indicative of a P.T. Barnum approach to marketing: there's no such thing as bad press. For all of the genuine communications from green to green, it takes nothing more than a semi-legitimate claim couched in a questionable taste message/image to radically expand the listening audience. This ad plays to our culture rather than informing/transforming it. I'm not going to make a value claim regarding the commercial itself, but the surrounding dialog seems to be directly representative of the social polarization that somehow surrounds sustainability concerns, and to that end the advertisement has succeeded twofold: putting audi on our lips and raising the debate into the forum of pop culture independent of advocates and celebrities (though I'm not certain why I'm splitting this group). Rather than raising the global warming/ climate change buzz-topic again and losing our attention as viewers, the Audi advertisement builds a dystopian, contextual, 'sustainable' society, and the telling of the big story makes the 'threat' real. I doubt sustainability advocates in any way seek the implementation of a green-stapo, and this would be the only genuine critique I can stand behind regarding the ad. While raising the consciousness of this discussion, Audi has simultaneously defined a domineering role for sustainability advocates the fill, pidgeon-holing the very movement that provides the opportunity for advantage Audi is exploiting with VW's TDI technology. While this may ad benefit Audi in terms of brand awareness, biting the hand that feeds them is a dangerous policy. Raising the topic in a way that doesn't benefit their advantage is bad marketing, sustainability aside. Unfortunately, this seems indicative of a P.T. Barnum approach to marketing: there’s no such thing as bad press. For all of the genuine communications from green to green, it takes nothing more than a semi-legitimate claim couched in a questionable taste message/image to radically expand the listening audience. This ad plays to our culture rather than informing/transforming it. I’m not going to make a value claim regarding the commercial itself, but the surrounding dialog seems to be directly representative of the social polarization that somehow surrounds sustainability concerns, and to that end the advertisement has succeeded twofold: putting audi on our lips and raising the debate into the forum of pop culture independent of advocates and celebrities (though I’m not certain why I’m splitting this group).
Rather than raising the global warming/ climate change buzz-topic again and losing our attention as viewers, the Audi advertisement builds a dystopian, contextual, ‘sustainable’ society, and the telling of the big story makes the ‘threat’ real. I doubt sustainability advocates in any way seek the implementation of a green-stapo, and this would be the only genuine critique I can stand behind regarding the ad. While raising the consciousness of this discussion, Audi has simultaneously defined a domineering role for sustainability advocates the fill, pidgeon-holing the very movement that provides the opportunity for advantage Audi is exploiting with VW’s TDI technology. While this may ad benefit Audi in terms of brand awareness, biting the hand that feeds them is a dangerous policy. Raising the topic in a way that doesn’t benefit their advantage is bad marketing, sustainability aside.

]]>