Eco-friendly Promos

The particular college I went to was very eco-conscious. The word they used to describe their green initatives was “sustainability” – and it was everywhere. We had dorm wars to see who could use less electricity, and weekly “5-minute electricity breaks.” The last iniative I recall was in the dorm showers. They installed shower timers so we could gauge how long we’ve been in the shower. It was all about reducing water consumption – although the dorm showers were so gross you couldn’t wait to get out anyway. I never heard how successful the campaign was, but it was a step in the right direction.

Cigarettes may be the least “green” product available on the market. They release toxic fumes in the air, dirty our streets with ash, and litter our sidewalks with butts. Yet, one Canadian tobacco company is promoting their green initiatives.

Du Maurier recently introduced its eco-friendly cigarette. The outer packaging uses a more sustainable paper than normal and the inner packaging eliminates foil in exchange for eco-friendly paper. Does this mean we should all go out and smoke? Absolutely not. Plently of reports out there discuss the dangers of cigarettes. But, if you are a current smoker and don’t have any plans to quit, then it might be worthwhile to light up these cigarettes. They are in no way “eco-friendly” like they say – no cigarette can be. But, it’s sort of the lesser of two evils.

This whole campaign raises another question – is this type of advertising wrong? Can a tobacco company promote itself as environmentally conscious? It’s an unanswerable question, but laws are in place to decrease the influences the big tobacco in the advertising world. I guess du Maurier found a loophole.

Obviously, this has caused buzz in the advertising and social worlds. Maybe du Maurier could have focused on making cigarette accessories more eco-friendly.

According to an article from Reuters, solar power could generate 25% of the world’s electricity by 2050. Using the blazing desert rays as power, the world can decrease its dependency on oil and petroleum products.

Of course, these measures are on the grand scale. On the smaller scale, think about using a solar powered promotional product for your company’s initiatives. The Sun can fuel more products than you think, like LED keychains and AM/FM radios. In these times, just about any company can benefit from promotional eco-friendly products, and a simple logo imprinted solar powered product is a great way to start.