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Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 4; July 02
GREEN ADVERTISING: ozone friendly or money friendly?
by Marta Genνs Pedra
Universidad Antonio de Nebrija
Madrid
INTRODUCTION
What do we understand as Green Advertising? Is it a question of vegetables? Of course not. Green Advertising refers to ads that claim to be good for the environment. The number of products advertised on TV that claim to be good for the environment is increasing. You have bulbs that save energy, windows manufactured with natural elements and healthy milk with added fibre. You get bombarded with green claims. Some are genuine, but some are misleading. What is the reality?
THE MEANING OF GREEN CLAIMS
There are several questions that we have to take into account when talking about green advertising:
- What do green claims really mean?
- When are they considered misleading?
- What do authorities do regarding to this issue?
- What can we do?
Many companies cause a lot of pollution while their ads show their effort to save wildlife, for example, Chevron, the largest corporate polluter in California.
Companies that do the greenest advertising are precisely the ones that are causing the most damage to the environment but they use green advertising. Why?
The answer is simple: money. Look at these figures:
- Nearly 60% of the customers favour organizations that support environment.
- More than 75% of the customers prefer a brand associated with the environment if price and quality are the same.
Many companies consider green advertising a way of making money.
The Body Shop is an example: they claim that their products are made from natural ingredients but the truth is that they make wide use of synthetic colours, synthetic fragrances, petrochemicals and preservatives, and only tiny quantities of natural ingredients.
OZONE FRIENDLY
Everybody knows that CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) are substances that deplete the earth's protective ozone layer. A general example of misleading advertising is that of deodorant brands. They say that they are ozone friendly because the do not have CFCs. But the fact is that CFCs were banned for use as propellants in 1978. They are not doing anything but law!
ADMINISTRATION
In U.S.A. National Guidelines have been issued by the Federal Trade Commission with the co-operation of the Environmental Protection Agency to help companies make sure their green claims are not out of law. The FTC Act prohibits deceptive practices, including deceptive ads. There is also the Environmental Protection Agency that safeguards natural environment. WHAT CAN WE DO?
We, as teachers can do several things:
| Activity | Language area | level | time | dynamics | Extra-benefits |
| Green neighbourhood | Vocabulary: Pollution and the environment Reading, listening and speaking Error awareness Describing places Report writing | intermed | 3 sessions of 50 m | Whole class and individual work | Researching, reporting, co-operation, translating, composing, editing |
Session 1:
- Ask students if they have different dust bins at home (paper, glass, etc.) If they do have, ask them how many and what for. If they don't have, ask them if there are different street rubbish bins in their street.
- Explain that the class is going to produce a report on dust bins in the neighbourhood. It will be sent to local authorities in Spanish as a guide of necessities. And the same report will be published in English in the school magazine. Some of the students will have to take some photographs of the dust bins or the area where they should be located.
- Provide the students with a map of the area and allocate responsibilites for research to groups or individuals.
- Tell the students that they will be responsible for writing a report of needs for the assigned area. Make sure that they realise they must be accurate with the information.
- You may wish to give them a model
Place - 12 Miρo Street
Distance from next - 50 metres
Glass - Yes
Paper - Yes
Clothes - No
Tins - No
Organic material - Yes
Session 2:
- Students report back with their information. They discuss the needs of the neighbourhood and how to involve authorities in solving them.
- Students write a report in English with what they consider the needs of the neighbourhood. A Spanishversion is provided by groups. English and Spanish mistakes are corrected in groups and the final documents are revised for editing. They may want to include some photos of the dust bins in the area. Students discuss photos and decide which ones are the best to illustrate the report.
Session 3:
- If word processors are available, reports are typed and published in the school magazine.
Example:
| Activity | Language area | level | time | dynamics | Extra-benefits |
| Ecolabels | Vocabulary: environment Speaking, reading, writing, listening Defining | Intermed. | 1session of 50 m | Whole class, pair group, individual | co-operation, dictionary work, expression of opinions, creativity |
Session 1:
1. Ask the students to work in pairs to complete a sheet with the following exercises (Taken form Stuart Redman English Vocabulary in Use, CUP):
a) Complete this word-building tables. If necessary use a dictionary to help you:
| Noun | Verb | Noun | Adjective |
|
Waste Pollution damage |
... protect destroy |
Damage Environment Harm Danger |
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... safe |
b) Complete the definitions:
- Conservation is the protection of natural things, e.g
- Acid rain is rain that contains dangerous chemicals. It is caused by .
- The ozone layer is a layer of gases that stop dangerous radiation from the sun from reaching .
- Global warming is an increase in world temperature caused by an increase in .
- CFC ( chlorofluorocarbon) is a chemical with
c) If we want to look after the environment, there are certain things we should and shouldn't do. Complete these two lists in a suitable way:
We should:
paper, bottles and clothes.
tropical rainforests.
more trees.
water and energy.
We shouldn't:
.paper, bottles and clothes.
.ozone layer.
..water and energy.
.tropical rainforests.
2. Photocopy different ecolabels and give each group one of them. They will have to explain the rest of the class the meaning of the ecolabel and its purpose. Some examples:
Some more examples can be found in the internet.
3. Ask your students: What kind of products are likely to have ecolabels? Free class discussion.
4. Team work: could you invent new ecolabels and explain what would you use them for?
| Activity | Language area | level | time | dynamics | Extra-benefits |
| Ecolabels and products | Vocabulary: environment Speaking, reading, writing, listening | Intermed. | 2 sessions of 50 m | Whole class, pair group | co-operation, research, creativity |
Session 1:
1. Explain the aim of the research to your students: they will have to go to the local supermarket and find out what products use ecolabels and what products do not. Allocate responsibilities for research to groups. Tell the students that they will be responsible for writing a report on the information they collect.You may wish to give them a model:
Product - milk Brand - La Lechera Ecolabel - Yes Price - 110 pts.
(Price is included because it might be interesting to find out whether these products are more expensive than the rest) This activity involves students doing research, so you will have to obtain permission from your head teacher and from the supermarket supervisors.
Session 2:
- Students report back with their information. They discuss the ecolabels found and the products. They create a table with the information.
- Students publish the outcome (brands with ecolabels and brands without) as a poster and as a leaflet for their own and parents information.
- Students look into prices to find out if eco-products are more expensive or not. They write a report in group.
| Activity | Language area | level | time | dynamics | Extra-benefits |
| Environmental claims | Vocabulary: environment Speaking, reading, writing, listening | Intermed. | 2 sessions of 50 m | Whole class, group work | co-operation, research, creativity, evaluation |
Session 1:
1. Explain the students the aim of the activity: they will have to select different companies with green claims. If possible they can use Internet. If not, TV and press. Once they have selected them, they will be organised in groups to find out as much as they can about the company behind them. You might want to give them a model:
Brand - Ikea
Company - Ikea
Product - furniture
Green Claim - Reduce environment impact
Facts we know about the company - They implemented many measures that have helped to improve the environment.
Genuine claim - Yes
Session 2:
- Report findings and create a poster with the different conclusions.
- Propose different measures to be adopted by the companies and write letters with those proposals to the companies considered.
These are examples of activities that can be done. All the activities can be adapted for different levels.
Some day human beings will understand that what is good for the environment is good for us.
