Green Advertising Is Extremely Effective
Making businesses aware of how effective and efficient Green advertising is, will be difficult because a lot of companies are stuck in their old ways. It is difficult to change businesses and individuals behavior, because they dont like change and they are comfortable with the advertisement they have now. What people dont realize or want to acknowledge is how much junk mail effects our environment or how it pollutes our air and land. Green advertising can eliminate paper, plastic, air and water pollution, because most people dont realize how destructive this advertising is on the environment and to our own health.
Virtually every U.S. citizen is affected by an endless stream of unwanted advertising or “junk” mail delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS). Junk mail can be defined as unsolicited promotional mail that is unwanted. Junk mail is most often, but not always, third class mail sent via bulk rates. This article details some of the known environmental impacts of junk mail. The article also discusses several legal issues concerning junk mail, focusing on privacy and fairness. Finally, areas of study to investigate which could hopefully solve the problem are proposed.
The Effects on the environment of junk mail are quite large. In 1991, 62 million trees had been cut down for junk mail. More than 74,000 acres of trees were cut just for catalogs, in 1989, 63.7 billion pieces were sent, also 55 billion catalogs. This 7.4 billion represents pound of junk mail. Pulp processing to make paper for junk mail requires 25 billion gallons of water.
An average of 41 pounds is sent to each adult, 44 percent goes unread directly into the garbage, and 93 percent of junk mail will be discarded ultimately. Americans spend more than 275 million to dispose of junk mail. A marketing professor for New York University in one year received 601 catalogs, including 26 catalogs from American Express and 24 catalogs from L.L. Bean.
Junk mail is not very recyclable. In 1990, only 200,000 tons out of 3.8 million tons of junk mail were recycled. Workers at a N.J. mill must sort from junk mail all the “shampoo samples, watches, T-shirts, tea bags and other surprises that don’t make good paper.” Heavy metals in colored inks do not degrade and eventually re-enter the environment. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) claims trees are renewable, and argues “We see the real issue as landfills.” Junk mail is an estimated two percent of municipal solid waste.
There is an environmental impact simply mailing all this mail around, primarily via motor vehicles. Mail trucks operate inefficiently, making constant starts and stops. After delivery, junk mail must still make at least one more trip to a landfill, incinerator, or recycling center.
The environmental force of ceaseless advertising of consumer products is the making of a materialistic culture in which possession of consumer goods replaces human social exchanges and spiritual improvement. There is no end to this materialistic spiral. People who define themselves by what they own will always desire that one new product, or replacements for all their old products, placing a constant demand on the environment. Materialism isolates a person from each other, which leaves them to entertain themselves with their things, rather than engaging in constructive community-building.
Privacy issues are major distresses with junk mail, to a normal individual. In July 1992, at least 2.5 million people had requested the DMAs Mail Preference Service, which will remove an individuals name from national direct mail listings. The New York Telephone Co. in May 1990 asked 6.3 million people if they wanted to remove their names from a list that it wanted to rent, and 800,000 responded in a positive way.
Businesses will pay more for unlisted phone numbers. More than half of the residential telephone numbers in California are unlisted. Objections to telephone solicitations led to passage of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. This act restricts solicitors from calling somebody who asked not to be called again, and requires solicitors to keep a list of those requesting not to be contacted.
Businesses must start utilizing Green Advertising to lower their carbon footprint, and to give their company maximum spotlight. Translucent Advertising is a non-traditional Green Advertising company, that has a large network of brick and mortar stores for companies to advertise in. Translucent Advertising gives a business the option to grow their client base in their target market areas.