I know that most people who happen to stumble upon this blog probably don’t speak German, but Google Translation works well enough for you to know that this company, Karlsberg, is marketing beer (bier) to women under the pretense that it is actually healthy for them. There’s more. They’ve actually had the audacity to distribute this via an alternate means: Karla bier is sold through pharmacists!
At first when I read it, I thought… Germans are crazy to actually believe this. Then after I thought about it more I realized that it is completely analagous to oil and gas companies who greenwash their consumers into thinking they have significant investments in an alternative energy future. Bogus. It is akin to driving along the interstate and seeing signs for clean burning coal (huh?!!). BTW this phrase was popularized by none other than President Bush.
|
From the WSJ, regarding coal: “But it still is far from clean. Coal contains dozens of noxious chemicals, including lead, arsenic and other heavy metals; sulfur dioxide, which creates acid rain; nitrogen oxides, which create smog; tiny soot particles, which can invade and collect in human lungs; mercury, a toxic metal that accumulates in animals, fish and the humans who eat them; and carbon dioxide, which many scientists believe is artificially warming Earth’s atmosphere by trapping more heat from the sun.” |
How does this work? Is the average consumer, the average constituent, REALLY this clueless as to think that beer can be healthy and that coal can be clean burning? Aren’t there ethical marketers (maybe this is an oxymoron) out there who think we need to do a better job in educating consumers into buying products and investing in technology that will ultimately benefit them?
0 Responses to “Healthwashing: Akin to Greenwashing?”