Happy Earth Day, 2008, the year that talk of sustainability spreads to new heights. Everywhere we look, we see the effects - CitiBank is offering a contest to win a brand new hybrid or green kitchen makeover. Green blogs are proliferating at an unprecedented rate: Technorati has 37,869 blogs about green, 6933 blogs about environment.

Even Disney is getting into the mix with their version of green messaging.

Mickey’s new word is “Environmentality”!

All of this is positive, right? At the same time, concerns arise over the ability of the green, cultural zeitgeist to hold the momentum. Can the “First World” truly become global in our ability to spread the green? The odds are working in our favor, as even the largest players are converting their awareness to what consumers expect, and transparency is big on the list. Greenwashing is now a word to add to the vernacular. So where do we take it from here? We’ve been a little quiet here on the Root Concepts blog…we are working on some ideas around these issues, and look forward to sharing with our readers very soon. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts. How are you taking it to the next level? Whom do you admire in the landscape of the new sustainables, and whom should we encourage to examine their motives and methods?

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A recent purchase in the product world has created quite the buzz. Last week The Clorox Company announced that they have bought the beloved Burt’s Bees for $925 million in cash.

Burt’s Bees, which began in 1984 as cofounder Burt Shavitz peddling honey out the back of his pick-up, has an ever-growing following for it natural products over the past years. Now in a situation similar to Colgate’s purchasing of Tom’s of Maine, or Ben & Jerry’s buyout to Unilever, brand-loyal consumers have been sent into a tailspin.

According to Clorox, the natural personal care market already accounts for over $6 billion in sales each year, and sales are climbing at an annual rate of 9%. The purchase of the natural products company is intended to prep Clorox for the release of Green Works, their new environmentally friendly cleaning line.
“The Burt’s Bees brand is well-anchored in sustainability and health and wellness, and we believe it will benefit from natural and ‘green’ tailwinds,” said Clorox Chief Executive Donald R. Knauss. “It’s in an economically attractive category with a margin structure that will be highly accretive to Clorox.”
Plans are in place for Burt’s to conduct a distribution test with Wal-Mart Stores by the end of the year. Clorox, coincidentally, obtains 26% of its sales from Wal-Mart.
The purchased Google search results link to www.burtsbees.com currently opens up to the “Our Values” page, featuring “The Greater Good Business Model,” instead of the usual homepage. Among other hypocritical highlights, the site includes “animals rights” and “fair trade” in it’s web of consciousness; a compelling contrast to Clorox’s animal testing practices and Burt’s branching out to Wal-Mart.
The site also features a response to the recent purchase via “A Letter to Our Loyal Customers,” which states that Burt’s still plans to stick to their ‘green’ guns, and that the purchase is “a great opportunity to help us better deliver against our mission of making truly natural personal products available to everyone, everywhere.” The company may now be able to make the most of their mission, but what about those values?
On the brighter side, the Burt’s business will not be joining The Clorox Company headquarters in Oakland, CA, but remain nestled in North Carolina. Perhaps the cross country distance between the bleach and the beeswax will be enough to convince consumers.

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Pimpin’ the G life

In a year when every major magazine has featured a green issue, and the world’s pop star elite gathered for Live Earth around the globe, those who have made it their life’s mission to acquire the celebrity zeitgeist are bound to take notice.

Just as the flower power days of the 1960’s, when it became fashionable to talk about revolution, the “man”, and fighting the power, we can now fast forward to 2007 to those re-dressed archetypes speaking refrains like: sustainability, organic and carbon footprint. How many of you have had an experience in the past year where you knew the person you were speaking with had no knowledge whatsoever regarding “green” issues, nonetheless, spouted greenthink slogans they think you want to hear?

But hey why be uptight, can’t hedonism and ecological activism mix? The revolution must not be devoid of pleasure.

But if this is an age crying out for authenticity, the only genuine article parlayed by Paris Hilton and Ron Jeremy et. al. is the art of the “put on”.

If they really wanted to work for change, shouldn’t they work within their realms of influence - develop an ecocondom, make a home permaculture video, or at least follow the example of this young, idealistic and very sex positive couple in giving to the green porn cause?

Instead they pose like a Jeff Koons tableaux of Hollywood glitterati struggling for tenancy in the garden of Eden, sculpted in green plaster of Paris that ages in real time.

It is precisely the aging part that gives one pause. If our celebrity-obsessed culture cannot accept the maturing of human flesh, how can it live in harmony with nature’s cyclical acceptance of decay and rebirth?

The Diesel clothing company’s campaign, “global warming ready” exemplifies this irony.

What is the message behind these images of the thin, mostly white and homogeneously beautiful in nonchalant repose amidst a flooded, world in crisis? What were the memos that must have been flying around ad-strategy boardrooms and marcom sticky pads? “Buyer persona - young, aspirationally affluent, environmentally “aware”, but loves the thought of rockin’ in an 07 Hummer limo. So why don’t we create an “aspirational” tableaux of a post-apocalypse that can be, well…. glamorous?”

cool…?

Are we flashing the ultimate cynical sign, a kind of “bling uber alles”?

We say nah. Make friends with reality. It is coming, and without a stylist in tow.

The signs do seem to read that a “tipping point” has been reached. The “Green” label will become something else, all the eco terms will fall away to be more about being a conscious and awake human being, whose green/eco status will be based simply on their actions.

The issues will still be there, in spades.

Keep it real.

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As consumers looking for green solutions, we expect the products we purchase to represent the intention of the business.

Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy isn’t organic, fair traded, or gmo free, however this company targets the mainstream, tween population to raise awareness, and educates children to act responsibly towards the environment.

Found inside a barrel of toxic waste, the message will reach a broad audience because it’s candy. So as they go on tour with a tween, all-girl band to summer camps educating 8-12 year old kids about their environmental impact they will also contribute to their tooth decay, insulin levels and ingestion of bt pesticides through gmo corn syrup. So here at ROOT we will inaugurate our greenwash category with this product. What will be next? Apocalypse Gum, you can’t blow up the world but you can blow up the world in you?

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