Environmental Awareness: An Age-Old Phenomenon - Paper Example

The campaigns geared towards creating environmental awareness have existed for a long time. It means that environmental awareness campaigns are not a new phenomenon because, since the time of industrialization, calls to protect and preserve the environment have been around. It is imperative to note that some of the current environmental protection laws were passed during the mid-19th century in Britain. Besides, advertisement appeal towards creating environmental awareness has been in place since that time. However, they are just like normal advertisements and promotion campaigns that are carefully crafted to boost sales by invoking an emotional appeal (Castillo & Henry, 2017). The paper will cover a product that I purchased intending to help the environment. The paper will also cover how the marketer made me feel guilty in buying the product and whether the product matched my psychographic profile or not.

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Volkswagen Middle East campaign of 'Think Blue.'

As I was shopping for my first care, I visited various websites of famous car brands. As I was doing my rounds, I encountered an advertisement that covered the intention of the Volkswagen to introduce cars in the Middle East market that would save fuel but does not compromise engine power. Moreover, the campaign also encouraged responsible for driving and instilled the concept of people being environmentally conscious in their daily undertaking. They named this campaign 'Think Blue.' Therefore, I decided to buy one of the models of Volkswagen cars that had these features because I had a feeling that they were committed to saving the environment (Banjarnahor, 2018).

From my time in school, I learned that carbon emission into the atmosphere from car engines and factories are one of the contributors to global warming. Global warming has adverse effects on the environment because it poses a threat to all forms of lives both aquatic and terrestrial. Therefore, I believed that by buying a car that saves on fuel, it would go a long way to minimize carbon emissions to the environment. Thus, from that advertisement, the marketer made me feel guilty of being a contributor to global warming. Before encountering the ad, I intended to buy a fancy car with a powerful engine that consumes as much fuel as possible. I wanted to be like with my peers who had cars with powerful engines and consumed large volumes of fuel. However, upon accessing the advertisement, I felt guilty of being a potential contributor to the global menace of global warming.

Consequently, my decision to buy a Volkswagen car was to help save the environment and promote their campaign of promotion of safe driving. However, it never matched my psychographic profile because I liked fancy and flashy cars. In my life, the idea of protecting the environment has never crossed my mind. Moreover, I have been accustomed to a luxurious life because my parents could afford the luxury. Besides, my friends also had such cars. Notably, the majority of luxury cars consume much fuel and emit large volumes of carbon into the atmosphere. Therefore, my decision of buying a cost-effective and fuel-conscious car shocked many. Furthermore, I could not fit with my peers because my car was different. Unfortunately, I could not use the vehicle for long because I could not withstand the ridicule that I was receiving from both my family members and friends.

References

Banjarnahor, W. (2018). The effect of green advertisements: Broadening the differences between self-benefit appeals versus environmental benefit appeal. Advanced Advertisement Appeal, 23(1), 121-125.

Castillo, D., & Henry, K. (2017). Volkswagen Middle East encourages everyone to 'think blue.' Proceedings of the Environment Protection, 3(1), 187-194.