Size Does Matter: The “Carbon Footprint” Propaganda
I think we all know the old adage “you need to reduce your carbon footprint”. For me, I distinctly remember an activity in Year 2 where we had to trace our feet and list all the factors that made up our carbon footprint and how we would reduce them.
But perhaps what is lesser known about this slogan, is that it was coined by none other than British Petroleum, or BP, a company that has pumped over 9.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since 1965.
And it’s from here that the alarm bells go off.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen this kind of action from companies. The groundwork was laid in a 1971 ad where a traditionally dressed Native American mourned the polluted landscape around him, defiled by rubbish. The ad peddled the phrase “People Start Pollution. People can stop it.” And who funded it? A not-for-profit group ‘Keep America Beautiful’, funded by the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the very packaging and drink powerhouses produces billions of plastic bottles every year.
It’s from here that BP and marketing agency Ogilvy & Mathers popularised the term “carbon footprint". So huge was its effect that it has been described as “one of the most successful, deceptive PR campaigns maybe ever”.
To this day, the messaging is just as pervasive in encouraging the public to shoulder on the lofty responsibility of halting climate change. We compulsively recycle, go vegetarian, install solar panels, so much so that the campaign’s key phrase – “carbon footprint” – has become integrated into vernacular and fused with the climate action cause. At the end of the day, it is us as individuals trying to create a positive change, and yes, perhaps attempting to clear our consciences as well.
It goes without saying that no one should be shamed for reducing their “carbon footprint” – this is the beauty of the BP marketing campaign. It takes emphasis away from the fossil fuel corporations’ product that is destroying the planet, and places the burden on the consumer. When BP innocuously tweets to use their “new calculator” to “find out your #carbonfootprint” the messaging is intended to gaslight (gatekeep, girlboss) the reader into shouldering the blame of the planet’s largest ecological crisis. Who ever came up with this certainly earned their pay check that day.
And as much as this vernacular has caught on, zooming in on individual consumption habits has a lesser impact than we would like to think. Bill McKibben makes the case that small amounts of change should not be added up, but multiplied for it to count for anything. That is, private individual actions don’t increase in a timely fashion and that collective action seeking changes in policy and law ‘multiplies’ individual effects. And whilst ethically sourcing your products or cutting out meat may be beneficial; its impact is certainly diminished in the face of fossil fuel companies pumping out tonnes of carbon every day.
“Even a homeless person living in a fossil fuel powered society has an unsustainably high carbon footprint,” says Stanford’s Benjamin Franta. “As long as fossil fuels are the basis for the energy system, you could never have a sustainable carbon footprint. You simply can’t do it.”
However, there is no need to pit individual and collective action against one another. Individual action, whilst they may not multiply as in McKibben’s words, do add up. By no means should we be satisfied with individual action alone. Only compounded with legislative action – i.e., carbon emission policies – will the effects be realised.
With the plight of the climate is feeling increasingly hopeless, perhaps the most salient takeaway from that understanding the origin of the “carbon footprint” is that we can now take control over the narrative. In turn, we can reduce the grip fossil fuel companies have on climate messaging. It is only with an amalgamation of individual and systemic change can we start to mitigate the climate crisis and this starts with reducing our dependence on fossil fuels – as a source of energy or otherwise.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the editor’s. They do not purport to reflect the views of the Sydney University Business Society.
I think we all know the old adage “you need to reduce your carbon footprint”. For me, I distinctly remember an activity in Year 2 where we had to trace our feet and list all the factors that made up our carbon footprint and how we would reduce them.
But perhaps what is lesser known about this slogan, is that it was coined by none other than British Petroleum, or BP, a company that has pumped over 9.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since 1965.
And it’s from here that the alarm bells go off.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen this kind of action from companies. The groundwork was laid in a 1971 ad where a traditionally dressed Native American mourned the polluted landscape around him, defiled by rubbish. The ad peddled the phrase “People Start Pollution. People can stop it.” And who funded it? A not-for-profit group ‘Keep America Beautiful’, funded by the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the very packaging and drink powerhouses produces billions of plastic bottles every year.
It’s from here that BP and marketing agency Ogilvy & Mathers popularised the term “carbon footprint". So huge was its effect that it has been described as “one of the most successful, deceptive PR campaigns maybe ever”.
To this day, the messaging is just as pervasive in encouraging the public to shoulder on the lofty responsibility of halting climate change. We compulsively recycle, go vegetarian, install solar panels, so much so that the campaign’s key phrase – “carbon footprint” – has become integrated into vernacular and fused with the climate action cause. At the end of the day, it is us as individuals trying to create a positive change, and yes, perhaps attempting to clear our consciences as well.
It goes without saying that no one should be shamed for reducing their “carbon footprint” – this is the beauty of the BP marketing campaign. It takes emphasis away from the fossil fuel corporations’ product that is destroying the planet, and places the burden on the consumer. When BP innocuously tweets to use their “new calculator” to “find out your #carbonfootprint” the messaging is intended to gaslight (gatekeep, girlboss) the reader into shouldering the blame of the planet’s largest ecological crisis. Who ever came up with this certainly earned their pay check that day.
And as much as this vernacular has caught on, zooming in on individual consumption habits has a lesser impact than we would like to think. Bill McKibben makes the case that small amounts of change should not be added up, but multiplied for it to count for anything. That is, private individual actions don’t increase in a timely fashion and that collective action seeking changes in policy and law ‘multiplies’ individual effects. And whilst ethically sourcing your products or cutting out meat may be beneficial; its impact is certainly diminished in the face of fossil fuel companies pumping out tonnes of carbon every day.
“Even a homeless person living in a fossil fuel powered society has an unsustainably high carbon footprint,” says Stanford’s Benjamin Franta. “As long as fossil fuels are the basis for the energy system, you could never have a sustainable carbon footprint. You simply can’t do it.”
However, there is no need to pit individual and collective action against one another. Individual action, whilst they may not multiply as in McKibben’s words, do add up. By no means should we be satisfied with individual action alone. Only compounded with legislative action – i.e., carbon emission policies – will the effects be realised.
With the plight of the climate is feeling increasingly hopeless, perhaps the most salient takeaway from that understanding the origin of the “carbon footprint” is that we can now take control over the narrative. In turn, we can reduce the grip fossil fuel companies have on climate messaging. It is only with an amalgamation of individual and systemic change can we start to mitigate the climate crisis and this starts with reducing our dependence on fossil fuels – as a source of energy or otherwise.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the editor’s. They do not purport to reflect the views of the Sydney University Business Society.
