Green or not? I am not a plastic bag
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Eco-friendly used to be a byword for dull and worthy, but now it‘s officially fashionable, darling.
The product spearheading the trend is a bag made from unbleached cotton, which cost £5 at selected Sainsbury‘s stores and sold out within an hour of going on sale on Wednesday morning.
It might not sound A-list, but the bag emblazoned with “I am not a plastic bag” has been designed by the “queen of bagland” Anya Hindmarch. The aim is simple, to encourage people not to use plastic carrier bags. But how ethical is this bag?
I saw a well-dressed, fashionable woman walking in South Kensington the other day carrying a Anya Hindmarch ‘I am not a plastic bag’, you know, that same bag that got thousand of Sainsbury’s customers queuing from 3am at the beginning of May. That same woman was also carrying a couple of plastic bags whilst the Hindmarch bag was almost empty.
Observing this behaviour makes me worry that in becoming so mainstream ‘green’ becomes just another temporary and rather meaningless fashion statement with people saying but not really behaving ‘green’.
The launch of the bag appeared to have been successful in terms of media (except perhaps with the question production in China) and yet, if Hindmarch and Sainbury’s had wanted to challenge our behaviour, shouldn’t the bag have been produced for all of Sainsbury’s millions of customers?
One more thing… if consumers are so preoccupied with the environment, why are they selling their bags on ebay?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Lolly on 29/06/2007 at 11:11 am, and is filed under How green is your marketing?. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 4 years ago
At least they are not putting their bags in the dump! I agree, marketing ploy not a true green act.
about 4 years ago
Great and worthy ideas are often hijacked for the sake of making money. Over time it makes one cynical.
Thanks for raising questions about the apparent forms of success we see afoot in the marketplace today.
Always a worthwhile read here Lolly!
Keep creating…MORE that mere mainstream approval,
Mike
about 4 years ago
It’s a scary idea that the trend toward being green could be just that – a trend – and so not amount to the wholescale and longterm change that is really needed.
about 4 years ago
Lolly – interesting observation ! Most supermarkets have had their non-plastic bag variants for long – Green or Black – people who truly believe in not using plastic bags do carry their own environmentally friendly bags to the supermarket.
For many others who sit on an indifferent fence – Was Sainsbury trying to raise the aspirational quotient around the product – to increase adoption or just trying to project an image of an ‘eco-friendly’ / ‘concerned’ organization. And if it is trying to project that globally responsible image – do they still stock Primark and other cheap labels from 3rd world countries? Corporate Responsibility when true reflects in a company’s philosophy rather than such ad-hoc measures
I remember way back in 2003 supermarkets in Ireland completely did away with plastic bags. Simple way of enforcing behavior.
about 3 years ago
Interesante observación