As editor of The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s $10 million social-media ad campaign is generating some attention, including this video interview posted today on AdAge.com, the Web site for our sister publication Advertising Age.
SPI President and CEO Bill Carteaux explains how the ads will focus on the benefits of plastics, and how SPI will attempt to reach an audience of young people who may already have preconceived opinions against plastics.
The off-camera interviewer is Robert Grace, Plastics News' editor and associate publisher -- he did the story at NPE2009 in Chicago. For more PN videos from NPE, including a similarly themed interview with American Chemistry Council's Steve Russell, check out the video page on our Web site.
Comments (2)
To answer your question, in my opinion an ad campaign similar to past ones will NOT help our industry.
In my job at plastics.com I'm exposed to the anti-plastics environmentalists who scorn, hate and loathe all things plastic. Their position isn't a defensible one in that they don't usually offer a superior alternative, but that doesn't lessen their emotion against our industry one whit.
And I'm afraid that our representatives are in a defensive mode that is too much like a child's argument. "Plastics are bad!" "No! Plastics are good!", when we should be fully engaged in acknowledging and studying the serious plastics problems such as the ocean gyre and wasteful packaging designs, to name a couple. I don't know anyone outside the industry that thinks that the plastics industry addresses it's problems well.
You don't need to convince people that plastics are good, you need to convince them that problems are being addressed and alternatives are worse.
I'm afraid that the minority that HATES us is growing and we are ignoring them.
Posted by Greg Koski | July 8, 2009 9:23 AM
Posted on July 8, 2009 09:23
I think Greg makes a great point here: "And I'm afraid that our representatives are in a defensive mode that is too much like a child's argument. "Plastics are bad!" "No! Plastics are good!", when we should be fully engaged in acknowledging and studying the serious plastics problems such as the ocean gyre and wasteful packaging designs, to name a couple. I don't know anyone outside the industry that thinks that the plastics industry addresses it's problems well."
I think too often the voices questioning the plastics industry are dismissed as a bunch of out of touch, lefty, hippy types. I am a lefty hippy type and I still have a hard time taking some of the anti-plastics people seriously. But if there is anything to be learned from how BPA fears played out in the market place, it's that anti-plastics sentiments are being heard and believed by a large number of people, and that sticking our heads in the sand is only going to continue to hurt the plastics industry in the long run.
Posted by Erin | July 9, 2009 11:34 AM
Posted on July 9, 2009 11:34