The morning after the world of pop and rock jetted to Wembley to tell us about climate change, a browse through the Sunday paper…
Nearly 12 pages of the 40-page main section of The Observer are given over to advertising. Top categories are:
- electricity, IT services and electrical goods (30 per cent of the advertising space)
- cars (25 per cent)
- financial services (14 per cent)
- holidays and flights (8 per cent)
Perhaps more revealing than these figures is the fact that 40 per cent of space is given over to advertisements that make environmental claims. A few are summarised below, without any lawyer-baiting discussion about the claims made:
- A satellite TV system switches itself off at night, transforming its dozing customers into \’eco-warriors\’;
- A credit card gives 50 per cent of its profits to climate change projects (thereby helping a cute wide-eyed baby);
- A bank is carbon-neutral, as illustrated by equally cute polar bears;
- A small car-manufacturer questions \’why spend 2 litres of petrol to get one litre of milk?\’;
- An IT firm points out that its inkjet cartridges are recycled through their \’Planet Partners\’ programme.
Keep shopping. Save the world.
Richard Brown 