MTV Switch -- Going Green or Greenwashing?

MTV is using its strong influence over youths and young adults for a good cause: it's called MTV Switch.

The 'Emerging Hands'

Found on Ads of the World, this is an original way to communicate their message! It is clear and the call to action is there. The two hands holding the sign are controlled by a small submarine around canals in Amsterdam; the sub better be eletric-powered :D

Their Flash Site

Check it out at mtvswitch.org. The flash site is incredibly slow, videos are even slower to load and I found very little interesting content. I don't see how this site will positively change visitors' habits towards being more environemtally-friendly. The fact that the site is all show and no content is a very big sign of a hollow campaign aimed at increasing their image, not the planet's!

TV Ads


MTV Switch 2008: Flush Less


MTV Switch 2008: The Green Song


MTV Switch 2008: Real Life's Better - Better



My Thoughts

Personally, I find the campaign to be a big PR push with little meat behind it; what saves them from getting bad press is Oglivy's creativity! Two of the ads had a clear call to action: the Emerging Hands and the Flush Less TV ad. However, the other TV ads attempt to drive traffic to their website, which seems to be the focus point of the campaign. Since the site is so weak, the whole campaign lost its credibility.

In conclusion, and to make good use of Stephen Colbert's lines: the tip of my hat goes to Oglivy for a great campaign and the wag of my finger goes to MTV for attempting to greenwash me and exploit the green movement to help their image.
Actions speak much louder than words, and all I saw were words.

What do you guys think?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It is amazing how many advertisers fail to integrate their marketing mix.

Over and over again I see examples of poor cohesion between each part of the mix, but without a mixed bag, there is little in the way of powerful outcomes.

Morgan Coudray said...

Exactly Josh. It's those campaigns that force you to make marketing as meaningful and coherent as you can.