Green Advertising

Even though the green advertisement is not emphasized in today’s marketing as it was in the 1980s and 1990s; some marketers still utilize the technique in their product presentations. Green advertisement is based on the belief that the business of advertising is usually brown. As a result, the advertisers tend to make the advertisements green by promoting environmental values in their advertisements.  This may be achieved by the ways the companies that use green advertisement operate and package their products. According to Corbett (2002), the analysis of how green advertisement uses the exploitation of nature in the presentation of the products, nature is shown as a tool used for human pleasure rather than presenting it as a product. Marketers, therefore, positioned their new and existing products as environmentally friendly. Companies largely embarked in green advertisements by presenting biodegradable, recyclable and environmentally safe products.

This paper discusses the use of green advertisement in the current advertisements. The current green adverts have taken the approach of using the nature on the background of their adverts other than just presenting environmentally friendly products. They have taken the use of visual elements of nature in the presentation of their products. This is achieved through presenting beautiful unspoiled natural backgrounds in an attempt to present the beauty of nature. These beautiful backgrounds also play the role of evoking feelings similar to those evoked by direct contact with nature.  In this paper, we will base the argument on one of the latest Jeep adverts on YouTube, and how the advert has been able to equate the product with nature.

In this particular advert, the advertiser has used different natural settings on which the product is presented. The vehicle is presented as having the ability to manoeuvre ways through different terrains such as snowcapped grounds, dusty, rocky and muddy grounds as well as through forests and water masses. These natural grounds are also presented in a very beautiful way, for instance, green and thick forests as well as snow-capped mountains. As much as the natural grounds are appealing to the eyes of the viewers, nature adds to the beauty of the product and also its ability to move on those different grounds. These advertisements have a great effect on the way people react to them. The enhancing of the feeling of utilitarian environmental benefits by brands through green adverts positively affects the intention to purchase.

According to Meister and Japp (2002), the most common use of nature in an advertisement in the green adverts is the use of natural features such as rivers, mountains and wild animals. This is used to create a blending effect between the environment and the background. In the Jeep advert, for instance, though the vehicle is shown on a beautiful outdoor natural environment, the natural environment is not presented for sale but rather to sell the message. The appealing qualities of the environment have been equated to the appealing qualities of the product. Based on some of the six reasons for faint green adverts by Corbett, here are some of how the Jeep advert utilizes these reasons.

Nature has been used in this advert to attach the humanmade qualities of the product to the natural values and qualities. This advert does not focus on the superiority of the vehicle as compared to the other similar SUVs but rather seeks to sell the attributes of the vehicle that relate to the natural environment. Nature is portrayed as the source of peace and happiness while the vehicle is shown as the medium to take you to nature.

The second reason as to why this green ad uses nature as a backdrop is to relate the vehicle with nature as sublime. This is achieved by showing the distorted reality of nature as a sense of beauty. For instance, the turbulent motion of ice, dust, water and mud as the vehicle drive over them creates a great admiration of the vehicle. This is presented as an artistic element of nature, which affects how people respond to nature. In reality, some of these natural settings are inaccessible on normal circumstances. However, the audiences expect the advertisements to feature the idealized unrealistic presentations of nature.

The advertisers have also used Corbett’s reason for a faint green advert to please the humans.  Nature has been used in the advert to impact on the narcissist audiences. The use of outdoor adventures creates great interest and admiration by the narcissist. The narcissist would be concerned with self-pleasure and anthropocentric (Meister and Japp, 2002).  They would, therefore, be highly attracted to the product that is shown to have the ability to conquer the natural challenging elements such as driving on mountainous and rocky lands.  

According to Twitchell (2003), the advertisers also consider the cultural aspects of their target audiences while creating the adverts. This is because people tend to group themselves in different groups depending on their zip codes, lifestyle, among others. The advertisers, therefore, focus on branding the consumers in those groups. The differences in behavioural sequences of the consumers are a key element that affects the way adverts are made. The advertisers may focus on the spending behaviours of their consuming communities.  For instance, some people would buy on impulse what appeals to them while others will plan for a future purchase if they are interested.

In conclusion, the use of nature as a backdrop for advertisement plays a great role in how people respond to adverts. This is because the ads carry attributes that relate to both the environment and the culture of the consumers. The aspect of the green adverts is not only to sell the products but also the meanings associated with those products. This approach of advertisement also presents the benefits of the environmental attributes, as shown in the adverts.