Color Me Green, but Cynical

Don't know if you've noticed but, Proctor and Gamble, the big manufacturer of laundry care, personal products and such, has embarked upon a new marketing campaign: Future Friendly. I've seen several ads on TV and they had a coupon supplement in the local paper this AM.

Their stated goals are to save water, and energy, to reduce waste and support sustainable manufacturing. Fine. I don't see a problem with any of that. It all seems quite laudable.

For example, in the past, many laundry soaps and detergents contained fillers, designed to increase the volume of the product purchased and make it appear that one was getting more bang for the laundry detergent buck, so to speak. In turn, these fillers then had to be removed from the water supply when used as directed, and the larger volume of product required increased size of packaging, which would then add to the volume of land fills.

So, it only makes sense to reduce the fillers, decrease the size and cost of the packaging and product and either pass the savings on to the consumer or at least hold the pricing against the rise of other costs. (Or hold some back as those nasty profits which allow them to stay in business!) A side benefit is less chemicals going into our water supply.

P&G has as much right to jump on the global warming/save the planet bandwagon as anyone else. On the Future Friendly UK site, there's a landscape made up of water drops and trees interspersed with the silhouettes of compact fluorescent light bulbs! Ah! Utopia!

CFLs are not going to "save the planet, if indeed the planet needs saving! But, P&G has the right to market their products with dancing bears or CFL trees or even "Springtime for Hitler", if they thought it would increase their market share.

But, for all the hoopla about climate change and global warming, I still feel it is a bit disingenuous when any big company jumps on the bandwagon. Maybe that's just me.

Color Me Green, but Cynical!