Eco Science - Twelve - Fairness Doctrine

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A/THE HUMAN PREDICAMENT: FINDING A WAY OUT

concern over the corporate image with respect to pollution was no doubt a necessary first step, but more than advertising of environmental protection is required. Environmentalists have been increasingly irritated by self-serving ads showing how Company XX has always been deeply involved in protecting the environment. Those emanating from oil companies—among the greatest destroyers of the environment—are especially galling. Ads from polluters posing as environmentalists have been christened "ecopornography." Much more acceptable are ads that offer useful informadon to consumers on how they can cooperate with business in environmentally beneficial projects, such as energy conservation or recycling materials. While we certainly do not condone heavy promotion of new versions of products whose environmental contribution is negligible or questionable, such as certain gasoline additives or disposable flashlights, we welcome ads that feature genuine improvements, such as unleaded gasolines or non-aerosol spray containers. Admittedly, the line dividing such cases is not always easy to draw. The advertising industry can do much more than it has so far to encourage its clients to promote products by stressing such qualities as durability, economy, and versatility. For example, automobile advertising should emphasize economy of purchase and operation, especially low gasoline consumption, durability, compactness, comfort (but not massiveness—interior room can be maintained even as weight is greatly trimmed), engine efficiency, safety, and low pollution emissions. For a time after the energy crisis of 1974 the trend was in that direction, but by 1976 there was a move back toward the bad old days. Advertising that stresses large size and high power in cars should be permanently discontinued. Beyond cooperating with clients in antipollution promotions, advertising companies could by agreement refuse to design ads promoting wasteful or polluting products—for example, ads featuring throwaway products, food in throwaway cans and bottles, or goods wrapped in unnecessary layers of packaging. Above all, every effort should be made to expunge from advertising the idea that the quality of life is closely related to the rate at which new products are purchased or energy is consumed. Advertising agencies can also make a contribution to

the population situation by refusing to produce ads featuring large families. Under pressure from population and women's organizations, some of the obvious changes have already been made in ads for many products. Other ways have been found to promote heavy-duty washing machines than as an item for large families-dormitories, hospitals, and other institutions use them also, for instance. Families with three or more children have lately been depicted as large families, and the two-child family appears the norm. Women are increasingly featured playing roles other than homemaker and mother, and the convenience of many goods is being stressed more as a value for working women than for the overburdened mother, as they once were exclusively. This trend should be encouraged. The critical problem, of course, is to find a way to swing both advertising clients and agencies in the right direction. While public utilities, for example, could and should be prohibited from promoting greater use of electric power through advertising, similar legal controls over all advertising would undoubtedly prove too cumbersome. -fvt (r/i t$ I V c f A court decision in August 1971So held that, under the ^fairness doctrina radio and television stations that carry advertising for big, high-horsepower cars also must broadcast information about the environmental threat such cars represent. The suit had been brought by Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Defense Fund after the Federal Communications Commission had ruled against such a policy. If it were widely applied, this^nterpretation of the fairness doctrine might discourage jnanufacturers and advertisers fromjjromoting <:nHally_jind environmentally undesirable pjroducts^jo, .date, unfortunately, it has not been widely applied. The late 1970s and early 1980s will be crucial years for everyone. The business community in the United States and around the world is faced with a particularly difficult choice. It can continue to pursue the economic goals of the past decades until either an environmental disaster overtakes civilization or until governments and the public compel a change; or it can actively initiate novel approaches to production and industry, with a view to protecting the environment, preserving limited resources, and truly benefiting humanity. '"Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals.