Bosch’s new out-of-this-world marketing campaign, and why Kleenex is so snowy white

Bish bash Bosch. Planet-saving marketing

German technology behemoth Bosch may not be every environmentalist’s cup of tea at the moment. Or indeed any web marketer’s. The domestic appliance maker has a new campaign that it may not have thought through particularly well.

On its website, www.boschappliances.co.uk, Bosch is offering those who fill in a questionnaire that promotes the company’s gizmos the chance to “be a planet saver and win some of the coolest Disney-themed prizes including a trip to Florida and a chance to see a live space shuttle launch”.

The competition gets steadily odder as the reader progresses through an annoying, flash website. The self-serving questions for a chance to win planet-saving flights to Florida include gems such as: “Bosch dishwashers use less water than washing up by hand. What is the largest number of place settings that can be cleaned in one wash?”

Then we have the truly bizarre: “Bosch washing machines offer SuperQuick, PowerWash, and Express Wash fast programmes. How big is the Express Wash reduction in Wash times?” Surely we all know this one?

Once the presumably average Joe consumer has guessed the right answer by elimination (the site helpfully tells you when you get it wrong so you can’t fail to get through the test) the contestant is cheerfully told that he or she can now register for a chance to fly to Florida and watch a spaceship burn rocket fuel (to save the planet, remember).

The website then delivers the reader at “page cannot be found”. Brilliant.

Kleenex: Greenpeace snot happy

Disney/Pixar’s latest animation film, Wall-E, is set in the future when the Earth lacks life and humans have abandoned the wrecked planet to live in outer space. Left on what remains of earth in this cheery scenario is Wall-E, a cute robot whose aim is to clear up the detritus left behind.

The movie is doing rather well in the US. Greenpeace claims on its website that this “is a clear indicator that its message resonates with Americans’ concerns for the future”.

Whether that is true or not, the campaign group is unhappy with Kimberly-Clark, the giant forestry products firm that now has Wall-E adorning its Kleenex tissue boxes. On these there is a symbol telling concerned consumers that the box is made from 100% recycled paper. The tissues inside, though, are not. Greenpeace says the contents are made from “centuries-old trees that were cut from forests that had been around for as much as 10,000 years – until K-C came along with its clear-cutting practices, that is”.

Greenpeace says Kimberly-Clark “refuses to use any recycled material in Kleenex even though doing so would save huge areas of ancient forests”.

The group fell out with Kimberly-Clark years ago, and so far its campaigns on these sorts of issues appear to have had little effect on the company. In an attempt to up the ante, Greenpeace has made its own animated film about the company and its practices. The video shows a robot called Kleer-E bouncing around the planet spewing out boxes of Kleenex from virgin forest – to show what Greenpeace believes the company is doing to the Earth.

Kimberly-Clark said in response: “Our policy is one of the most progressive policies of its kind in the tissue industry and included feedback from various stakeholders, including WWF. While we do source a limited amount of our fibre from the Canadian boreal region, it only comes from those areas that are approved by federal and provincial governments.”

WWF told Greenwasher: “We advise that a number of companies including Kimberly-Clark need to do a lot more to improve on their sourcing practices.” It said Kimberly-Clark Europe had joined WWF UK Forest and Trade Network in November 2007 to do this.

The US Natural Resources Defense Council says just 20% of the pulp that Kimberly-Clark uses to make toilet paper, facial tissues, napkins and paper towels in North America comes from recycled sources. This compares with an industry average of 60% recycled material in manufacturing, the group says. “Most of Kimberly-Clark’s at-home tissue brands, such as Kleenex, contain no recycled fibre at all,” NRDC says, adding: “Kimberly-Clark buys most of its pulp from logging operations that have not been certified under the Forest Stewardship Council’s management and certification system.”

Readers will have to make up their own minds whether the company is moving fast enough. Forestry campaigners seem to think not. Doing green consumer marketing on recycled boxes with no recycled tissues in them does seem a bit dubious though, in Greenwasher’s tiny mind.

Watch the Greenpeace video at www.greenpeace.org/wall-e and, in fairness, why not see what Kimberly-Clark says at www.kimberly-clark.com/aboutus/sustainability.aspx.

Barbie gets wooden spoon for marketing

Mattel’s Barbie “Bcause” campaign won the wooden spoon award for greenwashing at the Green Web Awards, held recently in London. Mattel said the “playful and on-trend” collection came from fabric and materials from different Barbie doll products, which saved on waste. The eco-media judges disapprove of Mattel’s use of both plastic and non-recyclable packaging. Other companies attacked for greenwashing were oil giants Shell and ExxonMobil.

Got a story for Greenwasher? Email greenwasher@ethicalcorp.com



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