Environment & Business
 

Advertisement #1

  1. Company: Armstrong (includes Bruce, Hartco, and Robbins brands as seen at botttom of advertisement).
  2. Methods of environmental protection: The ad promotes reducing waste, conserving resources, and recycling used products. While their wood flooring requires them to cut down trees, the company tells us that they participate in extensive programs which plant trees all across the country. They state that they have a responsibility to “help protect the resource, nurture the renewal, and preserve the balance.”
  3. Products (or services) affected: Wood flooring is the major product the company produces. Hardwood flooring and laminate floors are two examples of the types of flooring they make.
  4. What environmental problems are they helping to alleviate: Deforestation, landfill overflows, waste of limited resources, and waste of renewable resources. That is, the cutting down of trees, producing too much garbage and not having enough room to put it, using up limited resources (such as electricity, mineral deposits, perhaps), and the fact that many people simply throw away that which could be recycled.
  5. Briefly state your opinion as to the effectiveness or aesthetic appeal of the promotion: The ad is nice to look at (not nearly as dark as the photocopy looks) and the image of a butterfly next to a hummingbird and flower is both attractive and fits well. The message’s wording is clear and well-thought-out. High appeal.

Advertisement #2

  1. The company is British Petroleum.
  2. One way the company promotes their “environmental standpoint” is almost an example of reverse psychology: the prominent image in the ad is a quote from a TV producer who once said “It won’t be an oil company that will change the world,” to which the actual ad replies, “Though it may be the one who tries” and later in the ad, “It’s a start.” They emphasize that an oil company can’t save the earth, but that they’re doing their part nonetheless. They mention that they recognized certain risks first and made a point to control dangerous gas emissions.
  3. The products affected by this are probably mostly oil and gasoline, which BP produces. Of course, anything which uses oil and/or gasoline --- such as cars --- would also be affected.
  4. Their biggest problem they worked to alleviate is dangerous gases which affect the atmosphere (doing such things as destroying the ozone layer), which the company describes as “greenhouse gas emissions.” They recognized that the gases affected and contributed to the global climate change, a major problem.
  5. The caption cites the woman as Philomena Ryan, a TV producer, who seems a bit cynical that oil companies would even notice problems, much less work to correct them. The ad is simple, gets the message across well, and isn’t “pushy” about the company’s goals or progress. The woman herself isn’t exactly a raving beauty or anywhere near it, so she’s not very aesthetically pleasing, but if you ignore her the ad is pretty effective.

Advertisement #3

  1. The company is Canon, Inc.
  2. The ad shows a picture of two sea otters and talks about how animals such as they are becoming endangered because of such problems as hunters. The ad uses the aesthetic appeal (see “cute”) of the otters, as well as the depressing-but-true facts, to promote a standpoint of protecting endangered species.
  3. Canon produces cameras, and the ad hints that the endangered species are being threatened by hunters, trappers, and the like. Apparently Canon is hoping that gun sales will go down and people will choose to shoot the animals with cameras instead. Preferably Canon cameras, of course.
  4. They are hoping to help endangered species (and in turn, extinction) mainly. This ties in with people who shoot and kill animals, which also throws the entire ecosystem out of whack.
  5. The ad works well. Most people are attracted to cute animals --- sea otters included in the category --- and perhaps the ad is intended to shock the reader into realizing the seriousness of the problem, by essentially saying “Aren’t the otters cute? Well, there are people shooting them and screwing everything up.” A little excerpt from an encyclopedia is present, and Canon essentially hopes that people will realize that the risk for endangered species is a real one and take action. Promoting efforts to help the animals is what the company specifies as their goal.

Advertisement #4

  1. The company is EcoISP.
  2. In computer lingo, ISP is short for “internet service provider,” and the company tells us that their service donates half of their subscribers’ monthly payment to an environmental agency of the person’s choice. Showing a baby in front of some flowers, the motto “Switching to EcoISP could make a world of difference for your children” implies that children are the future, and people have to help preserve nature for future generations.
  3. The ad hopes that the environmentally-conscious will switch to a company which is concerned about the world around them --- namely themselves, EcoISP.
  4. The ad is rather unspecific as to which particular problems they are concerned about --- it’s more of an all-encompassing “environment as a whole” kind of ad. They use the word “green” a lot, which gives us the impression that they probably mean topics such as deforestation, conserving natural resources, helping prevent endangerment or extinction of different species, and averting pollution.
  5. It’s pretty good, though nothing to really write home about. The baby is kind of cute, but it seems there are images which would be more effective, too. The caption is kind of intriguing and the text keeps the reader’s interest pretty well. The company compares itself to other ISPs, who support any old companies and advertisers, not just those who are environmentally responsible and caring.

Advertisement #5

  1. The company is Pax World Funds (apparently a division of Pax World).
  2. The ad promotes a company which takes a closer look at potential investors and investments and screens them to ensure that they are both financially sound and environmentally safe. Though the darkness of the photocopy makes it kind of hard to tell, the ad has a large heart shape, in which is a redwood. The ad uses a little humor, imagery, and even borders the page with the company’s environmental ideals.
  3. The company mainly deals with services, not products. They basically give loans and funding to investments --- if they are deemed environmentally sound. Of course, anyone who gets financially involved either for themselves or for their company is also affected --- if they’re going to be a bad financial risk or an ecological troublemaker, Pax World isn’t going to work with them.
  4. The ad is very clear --- they border the whole page with what they would like to do for the environment: protect old-growth forests, reduce-reuse-recycle, prevent pollution, clean air/clean water/clean energy, minimize waste, conserve earth’s resources, restore ecosystems, treat toxic wastes, encourage alternative energy, environmental stewardship, and “green, not greed.” They want to discourage potential investors whose plans would cause ecological disaster --- and lead to huge debates, lawsuits, and the like.
  5. This ad is quite good. The caption reads “Mutual funds even a redwood could love” with a picture of a redwood in the middle of a heart-shaped outline. The ad begins, “When companies damage old-growth forests in search of profit, we think they’re barking up the wrong tree.” The ad goes on to talk about all the problems caused by environmentally-careless investments and touches on how their program works. The ad makes clever use of getting their message across.

Advertisement #6

  1. The company is Toyota.
  2. This two-page ad discusses hybrid cars, which are hydrogen-powered SUVs. A large image shows the vast blue sky, and a car driving down a long bridge. They talk about how the new cars were intended to cut down on harmful emissions to produce cars which are sound, long-lasting, and energy-efficient.
  3. Cars and trucks and SUVs, of course! If the technology peaks, old gas-guzzler cars could well become obsolete. Such vehicles would change the entire automotive market if they became prominent enough.
  4. Dangerous emissions. For example, the exhaust that comes from the tailpipe of cars and all the gas that gets burned and put out into the air. Toyota talks about how they have begun to correct the problem: cars with a fuel cell which generates power and whose only emission is water.
  5. A nice ad in many aspects --- the image is very nice, and fitting it to a two-page ad seems effective. They kind of make up their own “timeline” --- Today, Tomorrow, and Toyota (The Future, of course). The text is a tiny bit on the small side and much of the ad is just the image of the car and bridge. Perhaps sort of a waste of space, but for some reason, it works really well! Their new cars certainly sound innovative and intriguing, giving people something to get excited about. What you might call a “minimalist” ad.

 

Bibliography

“British Petroleum advertisement.” British Petroleum, p.l.c. Advertisement. National
        Geographic September 2002: 134.

“Canon advertisement.” Canon, Inc. Advertisement. National Geographic September 2002:
        n.p.

“EcoISP advertisement.” EcoISP. Advertisement. E: The Environmental Magazine May/June
        2002: 66.

“Pax World Funds advertisement.” Pax World. Advertisement. Backpacker September 2002:
        34.

“Toyota advertisement.” Toyota Motor Sales. Advertisement. Scientific American October
        2002: 54-55.

 “Wood flooring advertisement.” Armstrong. Advertisement. American Forests Summer 2002:
        24.