Green Police at the Superbowl

Green marketing popped up last night while I was watching the Superbowl. Audi ran a long spot featuring their diesel model.

It started with a prelim full of "green police" sticking their noses into the garbage looking for batteries, arresting a clueless homeowner for still using an incandescent lightbulb, and other scenes designed to pinpoint "proper" green behavior. Audi showed up at the end of ad when a green policement let an A3 TDI® clean diesel through a road block. In a night with mostly tasteless and unfunny ads, this one, at least, was clever, engaging, and funy. But a diesel car is still a car, and is not green in the bigger picture. I also wonder how many people will see the humor as ironic and start to change their lightbulbs, or will see the idea of green police as still more intrusion in their lives. Maybe humor is the right way to get people to realize the importance of taking care of the environment, but this kind of funny sends a mixed message. Living green is a most serious business.

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