Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

So it stands to reason that a certain automaker must be feeling a little guilty. Or at least conflicted. Much like myself. I love cars and always will, but I also know that exercising this fetish can do some pretty terrible things to the earth. But I'm from Berkeley and thus a little more comfortable with hypocrisy than most. Well, especially when it is well meaning hypocrisy, and at least in some way in the service of the greater good.

Which brings me to Honda. This year their F1 team is running some rather shocking vehicle livery: the cars are painted to look like the earth from space. There are virtually no sponsor logos, just the blues and greens of the home planet. What's more, they set up a website where interested "environmental sponsors" can pay a small fee to charity and make a pledge to become in some way more eco-conscious in daily life in exchange for having their name placed on a 2mm x 2mm pixel on one of the two cars. With more than 1.2 million pixels available on Jenson Button and Reubens Barrichello's rides, this loot could add up to something. And a good number of people pledging to ride a bike to work won't hurt either.

Of course none of this changes the fact that the vehicle upon which all of this goodwill is riding gets four miles to the gallon, has next to nothing in the way of emissions controls and  competes in a circus that hopscotches from continent to continent by jumbo jet. Perhaps even worse--and a bigger clue to Honda's motivation--is that Honda was previously sponsored by BAR (British American Racing), a wholly owned subsidiary of BAT (British American Tobacco). BAT's primary purpose for existence was to provide advertising space for their Lucky Strike and 555 cigarette brands. With tougher laws against tobacco advertising on race cars throwing a Molotov cocktail at their raison d'etre, they bailed.

Anyway, all this shouldn't spoil the fact that for a small contribution and a promise to install some light bulbs that I should have put in a long time ago, my name is now going to be emblazoned on the nose cone of an F1 car. How I lucked out and got such primo real estate is beyond me, but maybe I underestimated the power of karmic restoration.

Now if Jenson Button would just let me drive.

Daniel Turman

www.myearthdream.com