842 A/THE HUMAN PREDICAMENT: FINDING A WAY OUT
concern over the corporate image with respect to pollu-
tion was no doubt a necessary first step, but more than
advertising of environmental protection is required.
Environmentalists have been increasingly irritated by
self-serving ads showing how Company XX has always
been deeply involved in protecting the environment.
Those emanating from oil companies—among the great-
est destroyers of the environment—are especially galling.
Ads from polluters posing as environmentalists have
been christened "ecopornography." Much more accept-
able are ads that offer useful informadon to consumers on
how they can cooperate with business in environmentally
beneficial projects, such as energy conservation or re-
cycling materials. While we certainly do not condone
heavy promotion of new versions of products whose
environmental contribution is negligible or questionable,
such as certain gasoline additives or disposable flash-
lights, we welcome ads that feature genuine improve-
ments, such as unleaded gasolines or non-aerosol spray
containers. Admittedly, the line dividing such cases is
not always easy to draw.
The advertising industry can do much more than it has
so far to encourage its clients to promote products by
stressing such qualities as durability, economy, and
versatility. For example, automobile advertising should
emphasize economy of purchase and operation, espe-
cially low gasoline consumption, durability, compact-
ness, comfort (but not massiveness—interior room can be
maintained even as weight is greatly trimmed), engine
efficiency, safety, and low pollution emissions. For a time
after the energy crisis of 1974 the trend was in that
direction, but by 1976 there was a move back toward the
bad old days. Advertising that stresses large size and high
power in cars should be permanently discontinued.
Beyond cooperating with clients in antipollution pro-
motions, advertising companies could by agreement
refuse to design ads promoting wasteful or polluting
products—for example, ads featuring throwaway prod-
ucts, food in throwaway cans and bottles, or goods
wrapped in unnecessary layers of packaging. Above all,
every effort should be made to expunge from advertising
the idea that the quality of life is closely related to the rate
at which new products are purchased or energy is
consumed.
Advertising agencies can also make a contribution to
the population situation by refusing to produce ads
featuring large families. Under pressure from population
and women's organizations, some of the obvious changes
have already been made in ads for many products. Other
ways have been found to promote heavy-duty washing
machines than as an item for large families-dormitories,
hospitals, and other institutions use them also, for
instance. Families with three or more children have
lately been depicted as large families, and the two-child
family appears the norm. Women are increasingly fea-
tured playing roles other than homemaker and mother,
and the convenience of many goods is being stressed
more as a value for working women than for the
overburdened mother, as they once were exclusively.
This trend should be encouraged.
The critical problem, of course, is to find a way to
swing both advertising clients and agencies in the right
direction. While public utilities, for example, could and
should be prohibited from promoting greater use of
electric power through advertising, similar legal controls
over all advertising would undoubtedly prove too
cumbersome. -fvt (r/i t$ I V c f
A court decision in August 1971So held that, under the
^fairness doctrina radio and television stations that carry
advertising for big, high-horsepower cars also must
broadcast information about the environmental threat
such cars represent. The suit had been brought by
Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Defense
Fund after the Federal Communications Commission
had ruled against such a policy. If it were widely applied,
this^nterpretation of the fairness doctrine might dis-
courage jnanufacturers and advertisers fromjjromoting
<:nHally_jind environmentally undesirable pjroducts^jo,
.date, unfortunately, it has not been widely applied.
The late 1970s and early 1980s will be crucial years for
everyone. The business community in the United States
and around the world is faced with a particularly difficult
choice. It can continue to pursue the economic goals of
the past decades until either an environmental disaster
overtakes civilization or until governments and the
public compel a change; or it can actively initiate novel
approaches to production and industry, with a view to
protecting the environment, preserving limited re-
sources, and truly benefiting humanity.
'"Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals.