haagen dazs is covered in bees!

[merchimerch]

I find this article interesting:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/17/news/companies/bees_icecream/index.htm

It is good to see large companies publicizing the bee colony collapse and funding research toward a solution. I really do think this is a positive thing.

However, my skeptical side thinks that perhaps Haagen Dazs realized that Ben and Jerry's is quite successful because it has the Whole Foods style of appeal to customers. I call it "whole foods appeal" because Whole Foods and Ben and Jerry's sell a high-priced luxurious product(s) with the extra bonus of allowing its customers to feel good about purchasing it because a portion of the proceeds goes to an environmental cause.

Part of the eco-chic movement seems to be consuming for a cure. I have a problem with the idea that people can really have an environmental impact by buying the "right" products and brands. Don't get me wrong - buying green is better than buying not-green, but I still think that buying less and buying local is the more productive path to healing our over burdened earth.

Regardless, now Haagen Dazs can have a portion of the eco-chic market share. People who like to buy their ice cream in tiny tubs rather than big bricks can now have a choice as to which brand of delicious, environmentally mindful, smug satisfaction they would like to consume :)

Comments

[densaer.livejournal.com]

As one of those solar-powered, prius driving, hemp clothing wearing consumers, I totally agree. Right now, being "ecological" in whatever way you define it is a luxury item, and sometimes a way to pay more to get less of a product or service.

I would like to see the democratization of 'eco-chic', where most people have easy access to things like organic food, better lightbulbs, and less polluting ways of living. I don't want this to be a thing of the 'elites' only - we won't realize the benefits until we have economies of scale.

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

I understand your skeptical side, but from things I've read in places like the Wall Street Journal (so totally NEITHER liberal nor eco-friendly - unless it earns them money), this bee colony collapse thing is way more worrisome than the general public realizes. I think a little bit of what Haagen Daaz is doing is to get publicity, but I also think a bunch is sincere "holy shit are we fucked?"

Ironically, just as I have decided to go vegan for a while, vegetables may be in shorter supply...

[fallen42.livejournal.com]

There is a pertinent point that you are leaving out of the eco-chic argument. A person who pays the premium for green or even greenwashed products necessarily reduces that person's rate of consumption, since they have less money to buy other stuff.

I get what you're saying about the need to push consumption rates down, but that sort of social change can barely happen over a generation, let alone overnight. In the meantime getting people to buy greener products is a step in the right direction.

Hi there BTW :).