Softening the blow…

FILM & TV

There’s been a sudden surge in advertisements for concentrated fabric softeners, with each and every one of them painting a picture of an environmentally friendly product. Across the board, concentrated softeners are being sold as being better for the planet.

Naturally, there’s some logic behind it. Concentrated packs use less water, so the packaging is smaller, and the number of lorries needed to transport them up and down the country to our legions of supermarkets is far fewer. There’s certainly nothing wrong with billing those qualities as positive attributes.

But, marketers being marketers, the promotion of these products has gone beyond mere facts. These fabric conditioners are not just ‘better’ for the environment – they’re being sold as actually being ‘good’ for it, as well. Now, let’s not beat around the bush here, what we’re talking about is product that consists of little more than a chemical cocktail – one that can only be used in conjunction with a washing machine, which heat copious amounts of water and use electricity in households across the country day after day.

People have busy lives, but there is a genuine feeling amongst the mainstream that we do need to make changes in our lifestyles to help the planet. Joe Bloggs doesn’t have time to do his research, and by giving products like fabric conditioners an aura of being good for the environment, marketers are essentially tricking people into thinking they’re already doing enough.

It’s my view that these environmental campaigns are simply being used to revive tired old brands – and not just when it comes to fabric conditioners, either. From organic to free range, numerous products are desperate to associate themselves with positive movements – especially when traditionally stable sales start flagging. Heinz’ rule is that it only ever advertises it core brands – ketchup, beans and alike – when sales fall below a set level. That’s not enough for many, though. Now you have to put a completely new spin on products that have been around for decades. Now they have to do more than what’s on the tin.

Of course, I could be talking bollocks here. For all I know, Government research could have proved that by using concentrated fabric conditioner, we’ll have solved all our environmental problems in a matter of months/weeks/hours – I don’t know. I’ve not checked. And that’s the other problem with the situation as it is. Idiots like me can say what they like about the environment on blogs like this, in newspapers or on TV shows, because the media has no more idea about this than Joe Bloggs does. So, who can you trust? Mother Nature, methinks.

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