Almost all advertising that is done for products that are dangerous for the environment or that are non sustainable, focuses on promoting there sustainability. Car advertisers are leaders in this segment and every ad makes it sound like you’re making the air cleaner with their engine. Honda does it well when acknowledging the problem, not claiming it doesn’t exist. But many just shows shot of beautiful nature and some stats about reduction.
The main rhetorical problem they’re facing, bottled tap water, bananas and other companies that ship shit worldwide, is that consumption in itself isn’t sustainable. One’s ad can’t claim that consuming a product is better for the environment than not using it at all. Consumption creates waste. Driving a car is bad. Driving 4 people is less bad comparing it to driving 4 separate cars, but it’s still bad.
A second rhetorical problem, is that some claim to help stopping climate change. This would be a catastrophe since it would fuck up the whole ecosystem, the climate has always been changing. What we shouldn’t do is speeding things up, if we like the climate now, let’s slow it down a bit.
And on the topic of waste. Companies compete to create the most sustainable products, without knowing why or in what purpose. If creating products with sustainable materials, it really doesn’t matter if it’s to be thrown away the next day, it might be slightly better but the same enemy to the environment. I think creating products that the consumer wants to keep and not consume is sustainability. Advertisers should help their clients with their products rather than their advertising on this subject. The consumer, with his mindset being affected by an extreme global climate change awareness campaign needs not to feel green but for everyone’s sake to be green.