Caveat: I am going to be mentioning brand names here, not to promote them but because the story cannot be told without them.
The story broke recently about an ad prepared for the Super Bowl that CBS rejected, refused to air. Not for any of the reasons you might imagine: too crude, lewd or violent, but because its message was too green. That is, it challenged the wasteful way we do business today in favor of a more environmentally friendly way, but in a way that also took a swipe at two giant companies and a huge industry.
The ad was for Soda Stream, the company that allows you to make all sorts of bubbly at home without the waste of an endless stream of bottles. It was poking its finger in the eye of Coke and Pepsi, and through them much of the plastic bottling industry.
You can read more about the story and see the unaired ad here.
We cannot make the world more sustainable without creating sustainable businesses and industries. Industries will have to change; businesses will have to evolve.
And the one key to making all this happen is you/us -- the almighty consumer.
We often feel the issues are too big and we are too small. But the bottom line is that the one sure thing that will turn this non-sustainable ship of business around is how and what we buy.
Let us use our money wisely and well.
