Commercials like these give me some hope that the tide against rampant consumerism for its own sake and unsustainable practices may be turning -- even if it is for a popular consumer brand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... MfSGt6rHos
Then again, the cynic in me says that maybe the whole idea is just being co-opted. But I liked it anyway and thought it was worth sharing.
Evidence of a turning tide against unsustainability?
Half-measures kill real change. Quarter-measures are worse. One-sixteenth. One-sixty-forth. One hundred-and-twenty-eigth.
They give people the feeling that they're doing something when they're actually just talking about doing it.
We know something is wrong. This ad is McDonald's (Chipotle is owned by Mickey D's) saying, "Hey, we get it, you're questioning the way we do things. So are we. See, here's a cool commercial to prove it. So, let us fix it for you.... in our own way.... and you can just go on with your life and not think about it any more. We've got it covered."
Half-measures kill real change.
EDIT: Looks like McDonald's no longer owns them.....
They give people the feeling that they're doing something when they're actually just talking about doing it.
We know something is wrong. This ad is McDonald's (Chipotle is owned by Mickey D's) saying, "Hey, we get it, you're questioning the way we do things. So are we. See, here's a cool commercial to prove it. So, let us fix it for you.... in our own way.... and you can just go on with your life and not think about it any more. We've got it covered."
Half-measures kill real change.
EDIT: Looks like McDonald's no longer owns them.....
Thanks for that! What concerns me more than turning away from unsustainability is what happens if people do. A letter from a frugal, sustainable-living Cretan (nationality not intellect) protesting taxes on income he did not earn and didn't wish to earn:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/cretan-wr ... -greek-irs
The ad and the song make it seem so sweet and pastoral. But if enough people actually try doing something like that, watch out. To paraphrase Henry Hill from Goodfellas--You don't earn much money? F... you, pay me. You do your own maintenance, grow your own food? F... you, pay me. You live a sustainable lifestyle? F... you, pay me.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/cretan-wr ... -greek-irs
The ad and the song make it seem so sweet and pastoral. But if enough people actually try doing something like that, watch out. To paraphrase Henry Hill from Goodfellas--You don't earn much money? F... you, pay me. You do your own maintenance, grow your own food? F... you, pay me. You live a sustainable lifestyle? F... you, pay me.
I love Chipotle burritos as much as the next guy but I don't see the world changing just because a corporation is willing to pander to the green guilt of a few thousand american (i presume) consumers..
Your cynic idea that the entire thing is being co-opted is dead on correct (for marketing).
watch Mad Men for a take on marketing ..
yes, James Lovelock has recanted now that he is 92, but the earth is still pretty screwed , imo. .....
Your cynic idea that the entire thing is being co-opted is dead on correct (for marketing).
watch Mad Men for a take on marketing ..
yes, James Lovelock has recanted now that he is 92, but the earth is still pretty screwed , imo. .....
More signs of the frugality apocalypse:
http://www.gaiamtv.com/live/content1?ch ... paign=free
This is more of "metaphysical personal journey" story that doesn't always hold together and sometimes is a bit grandious, but what's important I think are the individual steps he takes noted starting at the 1:10 mark. I'm always more interested in what people actually do than what they have to say.
Also featured in the print edition of "The Week" this week in its "Best Properties on the Market" section, which is usually devoted to very expensive homes, were "Homes under 1,000 square feet", including the Tumbleweed.
Yes, I know I am probably guilty of a terrible selection bias . . .
http://www.gaiamtv.com/live/content1?ch ... paign=free
This is more of "metaphysical personal journey" story that doesn't always hold together and sometimes is a bit grandious, but what's important I think are the individual steps he takes noted starting at the 1:10 mark. I'm always more interested in what people actually do than what they have to say.
Also featured in the print edition of "The Week" this week in its "Best Properties on the Market" section, which is usually devoted to very expensive homes, were "Homes under 1,000 square feet", including the Tumbleweed.
Yes, I know I am probably guilty of a terrible selection bias . . .
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secretwealth
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jennypenny
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@dragline, the "I Am" video was interesting. (where's your YouTube channel??) I think one of the hardest things is taking steps when you think that what you do doesn't matter. We have a saying in my house when you feel like what you're doing won't make a difference, "At least I'm no longer part of the problem." Small consolation, but it helps. When you finally give up lawyering, you should become a life coach 
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Chipotle and others are using the green movement for marketing purposes, but for many people they won't make a change until something is socially acceptable. Ads like Chipotle's help that process along.
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Chipotle and others are using the green movement for marketing purposes, but for many people they won't make a change until something is socially acceptable. Ads like Chipotle's help that process along.
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secretwealth
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- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:31 am
It has already happened. One example is that young people are much less interested in cars now than previous generations. This is not just because a higher percentage of them are out of work, but many with good jobs ignore the car purchase. It's just a slow process and every little bit helps, even if in the short term the commercial is trying to increase consumption.
This commercial isn't the solution, but it isn't the problem either.
This commercial isn't the solution, but it isn't the problem either.
@Chad, This commercial isn't the solution, but it isn't the problem either.
Actually it could be argued that this is the ultimate cause of the problem. We've been conditioned to give priority to how our actions make us feel rather than what they do. If it feels okay then it must be okay. Feel-good messages like this are designed to distract us from the consequences and take away the very thing that would effect change - shame, disgust, anger, shock...
Actually it could be argued that this is the ultimate cause of the problem. We've been conditioned to give priority to how our actions make us feel rather than what they do. If it feels okay then it must be okay. Feel-good messages like this are designed to distract us from the consequences and take away the very thing that would effect change - shame, disgust, anger, shock...
teewonk... exactly! Great video. When we verbalize a goal, Sivers said, "the mind mistakes talking for doing". Consequently, we're less likely to take action after saying it.
In this case, the mind mistakes buying a burrito at Chipotle with taking action to solve unsustainable farming practices.
Advertising used to be amateur-psychology-hour. Today some of the smartest people in the world are spending their sixty-hour-workweeks tricking our reptilian brains into buying their stuff.
Watcher beware.
In this case, the mind mistakes buying a burrito at Chipotle with taking action to solve unsustainable farming practices.
Advertising used to be amateur-psychology-hour. Today some of the smartest people in the world are spending their sixty-hour-workweeks tricking our reptilian brains into buying their stuff.
Watcher beware.
@teewonk -- I think this Derek Sivers video might be more applicable to this topic: http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_h ... ement.html
I don't view the commercial as actually having any particular effect, but only as a measure of current public acceptance. Its a thermometer, not a hot plate. There is always a chicken/egg issue here -- does marketing/propaganda drive tastes or is it the other way around? The answer is probably "yes", it can go both ways. Not all marketing campaigns are successful and not all would-be shapers of public opinion are as good at it as Eddie Bernays (@Ego -- this is not new -- read "Propaganda" from 1928). Some ideas percolate for awhile and then will hit a positive feedback loop that accelerates the process exponentially. If they are not accepted, however, eventually the feedback will be negative and there will be regression to a mean or status quo. In any event, rarely do changes in human group behavior follow a linear path.
Take two cultural changes as examples: Smoking in public and inter-racial marriage. When I was born (in the Mad Men era), smoking everywhere and all the time was accepted and even socially desirable. Arguments and beliefs that it was innocuous and maybe even good were still very much in vogue. On the other hand, interracial marriage was generally taboo and was still a crime in many states.
Smoking slowly became less popular, but you could still do it in most places without needing special permission. There was no stigma and non-smoking areas were the exception, not the rule. Change seemed incremental and linear. At some point in the last 10-15 years, though, there was a huge cultural feedback loop that suddenly made it unacceptable and then illegal in most public places. The shift was dramatic and exponential but it was a process that had been building for awhile.
Interracial marriage went the other way. Became legal everywhere in the US in 1967 after Loving v. Virginia, but was still frowned upon for the next decade or so; was still unusual in 1980s, became almost faddish in the 1990s and is now so common, its banal. My kids have so many multi-racial peers that they can't even envision a world where it was not possible.
This is the way exponential feedback loops work -- see the Sivers video for the visual.
@jenny -- right now I just dump all these links in a personal journal, but maybe I will set up a channel or repository someday. Sounds like fun, except I am loath to have to update anything on a regular basis. Anyway, anytime I think I have an original thought, I can usually find someone who thought it before and has developed it more or better than I could!
I don't view the commercial as actually having any particular effect, but only as a measure of current public acceptance. Its a thermometer, not a hot plate. There is always a chicken/egg issue here -- does marketing/propaganda drive tastes or is it the other way around? The answer is probably "yes", it can go both ways. Not all marketing campaigns are successful and not all would-be shapers of public opinion are as good at it as Eddie Bernays (@Ego -- this is not new -- read "Propaganda" from 1928). Some ideas percolate for awhile and then will hit a positive feedback loop that accelerates the process exponentially. If they are not accepted, however, eventually the feedback will be negative and there will be regression to a mean or status quo. In any event, rarely do changes in human group behavior follow a linear path.
Take two cultural changes as examples: Smoking in public and inter-racial marriage. When I was born (in the Mad Men era), smoking everywhere and all the time was accepted and even socially desirable. Arguments and beliefs that it was innocuous and maybe even good were still very much in vogue. On the other hand, interracial marriage was generally taboo and was still a crime in many states.
Smoking slowly became less popular, but you could still do it in most places without needing special permission. There was no stigma and non-smoking areas were the exception, not the rule. Change seemed incremental and linear. At some point in the last 10-15 years, though, there was a huge cultural feedback loop that suddenly made it unacceptable and then illegal in most public places. The shift was dramatic and exponential but it was a process that had been building for awhile.
Interracial marriage went the other way. Became legal everywhere in the US in 1967 after Loving v. Virginia, but was still frowned upon for the next decade or so; was still unusual in 1980s, became almost faddish in the 1990s and is now so common, its banal. My kids have so many multi-racial peers that they can't even envision a world where it was not possible.
This is the way exponential feedback loops work -- see the Sivers video for the visual.
@jenny -- right now I just dump all these links in a personal journal, but maybe I will set up a channel or repository someday. Sounds like fun, except I am loath to have to update anything on a regular basis. Anyway, anytime I think I have an original thought, I can usually find someone who thought it before and has developed it more or better than I could!
Dragline, when a movement involves a bunch of dancing hippies where nobody really cares what happens, as long as something is happening, then a movement can freely adopt anyone who wishes to contribute.
Some movements are about important things. Some people want to derail those important changes from taking place. Those people can pepper-spray the change agents or they can co-opt their ideas. They can then guide those ideas in the direction most useful for them, perhaps even use them to their benefit.
When a company co-opts a percolating idea to sell products, the goodwill of the idea rubs off on the product. The product rubs off on the idea as well. The percolating idea gets changed. Frequently for the worse.
Sing it with me.... I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony....
Some movements are about important things. Some people want to derail those important changes from taking place. Those people can pepper-spray the change agents or they can co-opt their ideas. They can then guide those ideas in the direction most useful for them, perhaps even use them to their benefit.
When a company co-opts a percolating idea to sell products, the goodwill of the idea rubs off on the product. The product rubs off on the idea as well. The percolating idea gets changed. Frequently for the worse.
Sing it with me.... I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony....