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Paint It Green--with Recycled, Phony Rhetoric
Market researchers seem to have decided that promoting the
"green" attributes of your company or products will resonate with
consumers.
There was certainly an overabundance of promotions in the lead-up to Earth
Day this year. And, in terms of marketing, Earth Day alone is not enough. We
now celebrate "Earth Week!"
Apr 21, 2009
Market researchers seem to have decided that promoting the
"green" attributes of your company or products will resonate with
consumers.
There was certainly an overabundance of promotions in the lead-up to Earth
Day this year. And, in terms of marketing, Earth Day alone is not enough. We
now celebrate "Earth Week!"
You might think that a big-box retailer, calling itself
"sustainable," or "green," hawking consumer goods that
are mostly imported from distant third world nations, would be an oxymoron.
But the folks at the Target Corporation, and other sophisticated merchants,
apparently don't think so.
What really stuck in my craw was Target's Sunday advertising
supplement, tooting their green horn, citing such arcane facts as, "Did
you know that Target offers a gift card made from 40% recycled
materials?"
It also included a promotion for their Archer Farms organic milk, at about $.50 less per
carton than name-brand organic milk at other grocery stores, natural food
cooperatives or Whole Foods.
Organic milk is green.
Well, real organic milk, that is.
Target purchases their "organic" milk from a corporation,
Aurora Dairy, that owns five giant factory farms milking upwards of 20,000
cows. Packaged in a single processing plant in Colorado, it is then shipped, burning fossil
fuels, to every state in this country-seriously undercutting the
livelihoods of real, local and sustainable organic family farmers.
The United States Department of Agriculture, in investigating a legal
complaint against Aurora,
found that the corporation was in "willful" violation of federal law
and that they fraudulently sold milk labeled as organic. Aurora was confining their cattle to giant
feedlots, instead of grazing as the law requires, and had brought in thousands
of conventional animals, illegally, among 12 other violations of law.
The Bush administration overruled career civil servants at the USDA,
who recommended banning Aurora
from future involvement in the organic industry. Instead, consumers around the
country-consumers who are really "green"-have filed a
total of 19 separate class-action, consumer fraud lawsuits against Aurora and
their customers like Target, Wal-Mart, Costco and Safeway-all companies
that are apparently proud of their "green" practices.
In response to the USDA findings, and in spite of the lawsuits, Target
has arrogantly continued to sell milk manufactured by Aurora and to tout its social
responsibility. I just view this as the height of hypocrisy.
So it is up to us as consumers to support merchants who are truly
concerned with our communities and environment, and to avoid the fast talking
flimflam outfits hoping to capitalize on our growing interest in taking
responsibility for our impact on the Earth through the products we purchase. A
ranking of all organic milk brands is available at: www.cornucopia.org
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Mark Kastel
Mark Kastel has been involved in organic farming, industry development, and politics since the 1980s. OrganicEye is a farm policy research group based in La Farge, Wisconsin and best known as the country’s preeminent and most aggressive organic industry watchdog.
Market researchers seem to have decided that promoting the
"green" attributes of your company or products will resonate with
consumers.
There was certainly an overabundance of promotions in the lead-up to Earth
Day this year. And, in terms of marketing, Earth Day alone is not enough. We
now celebrate "Earth Week!"
You might think that a big-box retailer, calling itself
"sustainable," or "green," hawking consumer goods that
are mostly imported from distant third world nations, would be an oxymoron.
But the folks at the Target Corporation, and other sophisticated merchants,
apparently don't think so.
What really stuck in my craw was Target's Sunday advertising
supplement, tooting their green horn, citing such arcane facts as, "Did
you know that Target offers a gift card made from 40% recycled
materials?"
It also included a promotion for their Archer Farms organic milk, at about $.50 less per
carton than name-brand organic milk at other grocery stores, natural food
cooperatives or Whole Foods.
Organic milk is green.
Well, real organic milk, that is.
Target purchases their "organic" milk from a corporation,
Aurora Dairy, that owns five giant factory farms milking upwards of 20,000
cows. Packaged in a single processing plant in Colorado, it is then shipped, burning fossil
fuels, to every state in this country-seriously undercutting the
livelihoods of real, local and sustainable organic family farmers.
The United States Department of Agriculture, in investigating a legal
complaint against Aurora,
found that the corporation was in "willful" violation of federal law
and that they fraudulently sold milk labeled as organic. Aurora was confining their cattle to giant
feedlots, instead of grazing as the law requires, and had brought in thousands
of conventional animals, illegally, among 12 other violations of law.
The Bush administration overruled career civil servants at the USDA,
who recommended banning Aurora
from future involvement in the organic industry. Instead, consumers around the
country-consumers who are really "green"-have filed a
total of 19 separate class-action, consumer fraud lawsuits against Aurora and
their customers like Target, Wal-Mart, Costco and Safeway-all companies
that are apparently proud of their "green" practices.
In response to the USDA findings, and in spite of the lawsuits, Target
has arrogantly continued to sell milk manufactured by Aurora and to tout its social
responsibility. I just view this as the height of hypocrisy.
So it is up to us as consumers to support merchants who are truly
concerned with our communities and environment, and to avoid the fast talking
flimflam outfits hoping to capitalize on our growing interest in taking
responsibility for our impact on the Earth through the products we purchase. A
ranking of all organic milk brands is available at: www.cornucopia.org
Mark Kastel
Mark Kastel has been involved in organic farming, industry development, and politics since the 1980s. OrganicEye is a farm policy research group based in La Farge, Wisconsin and best known as the country’s preeminent and most aggressive organic industry watchdog.
Market researchers seem to have decided that promoting the
"green" attributes of your company or products will resonate with
consumers.
There was certainly an overabundance of promotions in the lead-up to Earth
Day this year. And, in terms of marketing, Earth Day alone is not enough. We
now celebrate "Earth Week!"
You might think that a big-box retailer, calling itself
"sustainable," or "green," hawking consumer goods that
are mostly imported from distant third world nations, would be an oxymoron.
But the folks at the Target Corporation, and other sophisticated merchants,
apparently don't think so.
What really stuck in my craw was Target's Sunday advertising
supplement, tooting their green horn, citing such arcane facts as, "Did
you know that Target offers a gift card made from 40% recycled
materials?"
It also included a promotion for their Archer Farms organic milk, at about $.50 less per
carton than name-brand organic milk at other grocery stores, natural food
cooperatives or Whole Foods.
Organic milk is green.
Well, real organic milk, that is.
Target purchases their "organic" milk from a corporation,
Aurora Dairy, that owns five giant factory farms milking upwards of 20,000
cows. Packaged in a single processing plant in Colorado, it is then shipped, burning fossil
fuels, to every state in this country-seriously undercutting the
livelihoods of real, local and sustainable organic family farmers.
The United States Department of Agriculture, in investigating a legal
complaint against Aurora,
found that the corporation was in "willful" violation of federal law
and that they fraudulently sold milk labeled as organic. Aurora was confining their cattle to giant
feedlots, instead of grazing as the law requires, and had brought in thousands
of conventional animals, illegally, among 12 other violations of law.
The Bush administration overruled career civil servants at the USDA,
who recommended banning Aurora
from future involvement in the organic industry. Instead, consumers around the
country-consumers who are really "green"-have filed a
total of 19 separate class-action, consumer fraud lawsuits against Aurora and
their customers like Target, Wal-Mart, Costco and Safeway-all companies
that are apparently proud of their "green" practices.
In response to the USDA findings, and in spite of the lawsuits, Target
has arrogantly continued to sell milk manufactured by Aurora and to tout its social
responsibility. I just view this as the height of hypocrisy.
So it is up to us as consumers to support merchants who are truly
concerned with our communities and environment, and to avoid the fast talking
flimflam outfits hoping to capitalize on our growing interest in taking
responsibility for our impact on the Earth through the products we purchase. A
ranking of all organic milk brands is available at: www.cornucopia.org
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