Swag Could Label Green Companies As Hypocrites

June 7, 2007

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CNet has an article on the link between waste and the volumes of marketing swag PR people send through the mail. Is it time for marketers to rethink what they send? Especially when companies purporting to be green are getting labeled as hypocrites.

“One editor here recalled that for its Windows 95 launch, Microsoft sent out a full-size window – with a window frame, sash and molding – that took two delivery guys to drop off,” Daniel Terdiman writes in the CNet article.

This isn’t the first story on the topic. Green Wombat called out SalesForce.com earlier this year for sending the blog a box of swag that took a 40 mile Fedex trip when GreenWombat’s office is just down the block from SalesForce’s building.

“The box contained a Salesforce-embossed coffee mug, some Salesforce branded chocolates and a folder – with a photo of a polar bear, whose habitat is threatened by global warming, on the cover,” GreenWombat writes. “The folder contains press releases, including one on the company’s Earthforce program – irony noted – all sitting in a nest of styrofoam.”

Many companies have looked at ways to make their marketing efforts less ecowasteful, Destination CRM writes. According to Stacee Matheson, founder and president of ecofriendly promotional merchandise and apparel supplier EcoBranders, in the past year her industry has experienced a great deal of growth, a momentum she hopes will continue. “I don’t foresee companies giving up their marketing materials entirely in the name of being ecofriendly,” Matheson says. “But I do see a trend toward the idea that if we’re going to use physical materials to market ourselves, we want them to be as ecofriendly as possible.”

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