Earth Day at 52: A Case for Relevance—and a Rebrand

There is one small thing Denis Hayes might have done differently when he was organizing the first Earth Day in 1969: had it trademarked. At the time, the 25-year-old Hayes had just dropped out of Harvard’s Kennedy School after one semester. Instead of studying public policy, he accepted a job offer from Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson. The Democratic politician put Hayes in charge of a group that would establish a national “environmental teach-in” under the banner of Earth Day on April 22, 1970. The idea didn’t end there. And a lot has changed since the first Earth Day. That teach-in galvanized the global environmental movement. A new age of conservation emerged. Within a decade, many of Earth Day’s goals were largely realized, chiefly the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air Act. Over the next 20 years, Congress continued to pass laws that bolstered the notion that clean air and water were a fundamental right. A Nasal Spray Brand Built an Innovative Playground That Cleans the Air While Kids Play As the 52nd Earth Day approaches on April 22, the stakes are comparatively higher than in 1969. Even with the recognition of April as Earth Month and the sense that eco-consciousness is a daily lived experience, the need for a single day of focus is more necessary than ever. Earth Day for all As Hayes acknowledged to Adweek, Earth Day the brand belongs to pretty much any entity that wants to claim it. Ownership isn’t the biggest problem Earth Day has. The scale of the environmental destruction facing us goes beyond the borders of the U.S. Global scientists, regulators, activists and citizens worldwide continue to struggle to convey the impact of what is widely regarded as an inescapable, deepening climate crisis. Debates over global warming more than overshadow the relatively trivial matters of advertising and marketing, but the perceptions of sustainability, and the ways consumers and governments act on those perceptions, are often directly shaped—or obscured—by the actions brands take. The inaugural Earth Day celebration was on April 22, 1970. No time for self-congratulation If Earth Day’s relevance is to be questioned or defended, the discussion must be considered, at least in part, through the lens of advertising, marketing, public relations and media. “Consumers today—especially young people—are demanding more and more from the brands they support. And they have a keen eye for empty gestures,” said Jenny Powers, chief communications officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Earth Day in 2022 is not a moment for greenwashing or patting your own back,” she said. “The climate crisis is affecting every single one of us—no matter where you live, how you vote or what industry you work in. That means every single one of us has a responsibility to explore how we can be part of the solution and not the problem." For brands, this means improving their internal practices and external marketing, Powers said. And it’s up to consumers to keep the pressure on. Morning Consult's Climate Tracker follows consumer sentiment and corporate action related to climate change. While debate continues as to the extent of the damage and its causes, the science is settled: Environmental despoliation is the result of business activity and overconsumption. The condition of the planet is reflected in reports that show carbon dioxide levels hitting an all-time high and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth report, which details how the window for mitigating global warming is rapidly closing. Ultimately, marketers respond to consumer demands and expectations. If the climate crisis can be ameliorated, then brands are at the center of the globe’s collective response. Earth Day remains a clear focal point for elevating that dialogue between marketers and consumers, but if marketing tied to Earth Day is to have any actual value, the concept itself needs a rebrand. Your Earth Day ad here Major brands and advertisers have at least appeared to embrace a commitment to solving—if not quite accepting culpability for—the causes of climate change. Nevertheless, brands and agencies also greenwash the harm resulting from business tied to the fossil fuel industry. Earth Day has always represented a moment of widespread reflection on environmental issues. It still has the power to command collective attention. Naturally, marketers of all stripes have seen a role for themselves in that larger conversation. At a glance, Earth Day 2021 ads by the likes of Carl’s Jr. and Beyond Meat, AB InBev’s Budweiser and Michelob, New Belgium Brewing, Facebook and others abound with self-congratulation for adopting seemingly better agricultural and energy-efficient practices. For Earth Day 2022, Coca-Cola’s quirky ad starring an animated Bill Nye plugging the soft drink’s recycling goals otherwise shows how ultimately ineffectual such promises are, since they do so little to eliminate plastic from accumulating in the ocean. Coca-Cola Wants You to Recycle Soda Bottles. That Won't Keep Plastics Out of Your Body Given the consumer backlash and cynicism over greenwashing, there’s a recognition that merely touting token operational improvements don’t cut it anymore. In the case of Earth Day, such advertising only diminishes it to another “pick your national hashtag day,” said Jacquelyn Ottman, an ad agency veteran who became a sustainability marketing consultant and author of The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding. Peak Earth Day “I gave up on Earth Day quite a while ago, frankly—and sadly, too,” said Ottman, who worked at creative shops like Wells Rich Greene and Scali McCabe Sloves in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, serving clients such as Procter & Gamble and Ralston Purina before focusing on green marketing in 1989 with her own firm. In Ottman’s view, Earth Day peaked at its 20th anniversary in 1990. That’s when the emphasis shifted from regulatory objectives to protest and pressure directed at corporate behavior. Activists started focusing on what consumers could do by voting with their wallets, which resulted in product designs tied to recycling and the use of more biodegradable materials intended to burnish brands as responsible, caring stewards of the environment. The archetypal sustainability marketing issue of that era was McDonald’s move to discontinue the McDLT in the early 1990s over the use of polystyrene—commercially known as the non-biodegradable styrofoam—for the packaging of the heavily promoted sandwich. (TV ads for the McDLT starring a wildly exuberant pre-Seinfeld Jason Alexander singing the praises of the container that kept the “hot side ‘hot’ and the cool side ‘cool.’”) “Earth Day has not evolved over time, and desperately needs to,” Ottman told Adweek. “The kinds of things corporations like to sponsor—such as cleaning up a park, planting a tree—should tell us how stuck Earth Day is in the past and how far most corporations are still not willing to go.” A close-up of a hand holding up an Earth day button which reads, 'Save your Earth - You can't get off.' A victim of its own success? If anything about the first Earth Day lives on today, it’s the incredible power of determined people, the NRDC’s Powers countered. “Since then, we have won a lot of big battles,” she said. Specifically, she connected Earth Day’s influence on actions such as removing lead from gasoline to banning the chemicals depleting the ozone layer. Endangered species like the humpback whale and bald eagle were rescued from the brink of extinction. The U.S. eliminated acid rain. “Earth Day is a reminder that, though the challenges ahead of us are big, we can rise to meet them if we come together and demand better.”Jenny Powers, CCO, Natural Resources Defense Council “These changes only happened because people organized and spoke up,” Powers said. “Earth Day is a reminder that, though the challenges ahead of us are big, we can rise to meet them if we come together and demand better.” How might conscientious marketers reshape and refocus Earth Day? Given the deluge of ads and promotions tied to that day, it’s tempting to just disregard it and make no special effort. “Should you ignore Earth Day as a brand? Well, no, of course not,” said Joanna Seddon, a former Ogilvy executive who now serves as managing partner at brand consultancy Presciant. For one thing, Seddon questions why Earth Day marketing isn’t tied to environmental organizations’ ongoing efforts. Brand messages that do nothing more than claim a vague reduction in pollution just drive cynicism and indifference among consumers about marketing generally. When such pronouncements are tied to Earth Day, Seddon contended, the observance is further degraded in the public’s view. Show, don’t tell Earth Day marketing needs to speak to specific audiences. The best starting point to determine whether a message or action resonates is the demographic most marketers already concentrate on: Gen Z. “This generation feels that they watched hopelessly from the sidelines as everybody messed up the world in countless ways,” Seddon said. “Now, they're starting to accrue greater cultural and economic power. Earth Day is not about teaching them; it’s about reaching them and appealing to them.” Our Climate Reality Demands Radical Action From Brands, Not Meager Promises Brands need to follow the writer’s adage of “show, don’t tell,” Seddon said, pointing to Nike’s marketing as a prime example. The athletic shoe brand doesn’t try to instruct consumers about “how to save the planet,” she said. Instead, it attempts to connect to its customer base, amplifying their voices and stories, an approach that’s lacking in most Earth Day marketing. Earth Day absurdities Whether the flurry of marketing messages is meaningful or meretricious, the gravitational pull on the public’s attention is a mark of Earth Day’s continued value. Still, the idea that anyone can advertise under the Earth Day banner tends to dilute dire messages about the planet’s precarious condition. It’s a concern Hayes didn’t foresee a half century ago. “One of the first decisions we made back in 1970 was not to trademark ‘Earth Day’ or to seek any other kind of intellectual property protection,” said Hayes, who now serves as the CEO of the Seattle-based nonprofit Bullitt Foundation, which engages in environmental protection efforts in the Pacific Northwest. “We were on a very fast track with a short timeline, and we didn’t want to bureaucratize participation,” Hayes noted. “We might have made different choices if we’d had more time—or if we’d dreamed that Earth Day, rather than being a one-time event, would continue into the indefinite future and be observed in every nation on Earth.” Adweek's 12 Sustainability Stars Are Making Meaningful Strides Toward a Livable Planet That well-intentioned lapse means Earth Day’s originators can’t enforce any restrictions on how observance is invoked. Even if he doesn’t quite accept it, Hayes conceded there are “lots of outrages” surrounding Earth Day activities. “Every year, I see absurdities akin to full-page newspaper ads proclaiming that ‘Every Day Is Earth Day at Exxon,’” he said. “These make some people believe that every company advertising Earth Day is a sponsor of earthday.org—which is, of course, absurd. But I don’t think it causes anyone to confuse Exxon with Greenpeace.” There’s another issue from Earth Day’s origins that makes it so difficult to redefine. There’s a “feel-good” tension at work to get people to participate and care, but to avoid being overly lecturing and hectoring. Still, the fun of concerts with high-profile stars and other mass gatherings create a celebratory atmosphere that brings people together for a good cause. It’s hard to inspire attention with just a “teach-in.” Feel-good tension By and large, the “feel-good” sensibility that Earth Day started with was crucial to attracting 20 million participants, Hayes said. And it’s why hundreds of millions continue to be involved annually whether it’s planting trees, recycling or cleaning a beach. That success is something substantive to continue to build upon, given the world’s seemingly endless and intractable calamities, said Powers. “No doubt about it, the challenges we are facing around the world today—from the pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and climate change—are overwhelming,” Powers said. “But one essential part of the solutions to all three of these global crises is to finally break free from fossil fuels. Earth Day reminds us that we must speed the shift to 100% clean energy sources that won’t condemn us to endless cycles of chaos, suffering and war.” Influencers and Celebs Want the World's Largest PR Firm to Drop ExxonMobil