Is Blue a little red of Green?

Something popped into my head the other day as I was bombarded by green-vertising.

How did "Green" become the word/colour/brand for environmental awareness?

It's like there was never a choice. Green was always the answer, it symbolizes nature afterall. Trees are green, grass is green, plants are green.

But if you're blue, aren't you a little bit pissed off that you were never considered? Blue symbolizes the water, the sky, and cleanliness/freshness. All things that are being attacked by the "green"house gases, pollution, and other unfriendly aspects of this earth we inhabit. When looking at an image of earth from outer space there is more blue on the planet than green, yet Green was the ultimate choice. Maybe it's the connotation of "blue" meaning sad that ultimately won the battle for Green, but wouldn't a colour that was sad better show how the earth felt about the lack of caring for it?

To me Green feels like the Paris Hilton of colours - Using any and every opportunity to get it's name used in the tabloids, television or any other kind of media. It will sell out it's good name to any company to try and promote itself.

"Hey Green, Walmart will turn off their store lights at night if you'll let them use your name."

"Done!"

I bet Blue would be a little more cautious about having their name bandied about all willy-nilly like.

Maybe i'm just getting sick and tired of every company talking about how "green" they are though. Especially these companies that have realized they can save money by being "green" and then try to spin it like they are doing it for the environment.

You may be green, but ultimately you haven't gotten the "Blue" stamp of approval yet.

Sex saves the environment

This is one of my favourite marketing stories of the year and it comes out of the Fast Company blog. Everybody knows that marketing with a green twist is a great way to show your business is socially responsible and get brownie points from consumers. You may have thought in the past "I don't know if my company can take advantage of this marketing fad to help us engage customers."

......and then this story came along

"You know Thomas, this economic downturn has really affected our brothel. Not nearly as many people these days are paying for sex! It's like they realized it was an unnecessary cost, so they are now going to the bars and trying to pick up girls with the rest of the male population."

"I know. But don't worry I have a way to get press, make our brothel appear environmentally concious, and get more guys in the door. We'll offer a $7 discount for anyone who bike or take the train to their chikka chikka bow wow."

"Next step..........carpool discount!"

GM to turn tides from Blue to Green?

Let me start by saying this isn't confirmed, nor does it sound like its anywhere near officially occuring for GM, but according to Marketing News a source has told them that GM is considering switching the blue background of their logo to green.

Firstly, I think this is a bad idea because I don't see GM being able to back up this change, which would in essence symbolize the movement to a greener, more efficient car company. There is a scene in the hilarious tv sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when Dennis attempts to become an environmentalist by showing up at a dump in a cashmere sweater and Range Rover to help people recycle products that have been thrown away. He is immediately called out by the environmentalists as a part-time enviro and ridiculed.

That is how I see that GM experiment working. Everyone would see right through the plan and they would be further ridiculed for trying to talk the talk without walking the walk.

Now, that being said, if GM were to switch their logo to green and then immediately back it up by putting the Volt and other seemingly green cars on the market then I think they would stand a better chance of pulling it off.

Check out It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia if you haven't already, definately better than another GM blog post from yours truly.