Selling Sex over Green and Vanity over Ethics
In Fast Company's June article on American Apparel titled sex vs ethics Rob Walker, the writer, talks about American Apparel's public facing transition from an ethics touting (a la sweatshop free clothing) to their newfound image of sexual overtones (see ad samples below). The article doesn't claim that AA has lost its sense of ethics or has forgotten its roots in best labor practices, it simply points out that using ethics as a selling point can only go so far: a niche. AA is growing, and part of that growth is thanks to their new broad base of customers. American Apparel sells clothing without a logo. Their clothes are not about projecting iconic or symbolic coolness onto you. The clothes are meant to complement the vanity already inside you. Ethics sells, but it isn't going to expand the bottom line like he diameter of a star going supernova on you. In fact, the article quotes:
"...according to the Journal of Industrial Ecology only 10% to 12% 'actually go out of their way to purchase environmentally sound products' "
That's nuts. If you were to walk down the street and stop 10 people and pop the question, 'do you care about ethics or the environment?', 'is sweatshop free or environment important to you?', 'would you buy sweatshop free or green oriented products?', I can BET that the majority of those you polled would say YES with a capital Y-E-S. Yet... our actions and behavior say something different.
That got me thinking about several product/service movements including but not limited to green, ethics, and good old made in the USA. I am planning on going to b-school and I was thinking about exploring the opportunities within green product lines. But is that enough of a sell? Can we do what sex did for the smoking industry in their heyday? I mean is it enough to stand on a soapbox and say 'hey buy this because it's biodegradable or zero emission or sweatshop free or made in the US?' Sadly I don't think it's enough. It's one selling factor.
Consumers are complex algorithms. Too many functions besides just green-zero emitting-ethical-Yankee fervor. There's PRICE, CONVENIENCE, UTILITY, QUALITY, and the bazillion other quirks that trigger the 'purchasing yes' button.
I think what we'll see going forward is that companies will creatively market their products with other marketing overtones as their primary message (much like American Apparel is doing now) and using the 'green-zero emitting-ethical-Yankee' concept as a secondary (much like you'll see American Apparel saying 'sweatshop' free in size 4 super-undersized font on their ads. Something is better than nothing right?
Other Movements or Companies I support
Product Red - AIDS focused product and awareness campaign
Method Home - environmentally sound cleaning products
Organic Foods - I'll admit I'm a hypocrite when it comes here... I'll still eat a fast food burger. Sorry.
French Ad
Meet Sophie Ad
Froyo Proliferation and Nothing Less
Living in Los Angeles certainly has its perks: sunshine, beaches, nightlife, and froyo. Froyo is short for FROzen YOgurt. The last 12 months has seen an explosion of frozen yogurt eateries mimicking the most popular chain of them all, Pinkberry. Yesterday, it was announced that Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and Davin Levitan have invested $27.5M into the frozen yogurt eatery. Anyone living in Los Angeles has seen this one coming for a long time now. In fact, I mentioned Pinkberry to my friends in Ohio where no one had ever heard of it. I suppose Ohio is going to be one of the last places to have one moving in considering there isn't even a Jamba Juice where my friend lives (Toledo).
Some people believe that Pinkberry is making the wrong by taking in outside investments to expand rapidly. I see some validity in that. However, I do not believe that the owners of Pinkberry are going to be running the show outright. Expect to see Schultz and Levitan recruiting and handpicking executives who have been there and done that. Pinkberry will be led by a team of professionals with an expert and in-depth level of knowledge of bringing small chains to the national spotlight.
Congratulations Pinkberry, you're blowing up baby.
Other links on the subject:
Pinkberry + Starbucks + $27.5 Million = Kiss of Death
Starbucks founder bites into Pinkberry
Pinkberry Gets Seed Money From Starbucks Chairman
Website Reviews
Every once in awhile I will scour the web and blogs out there to see what is the latest and greatest in technology and business. Here are some of the most recent websites I have found and my thoughts on them.
KIVA.ORG
Kiva is a site where users can connect with and lend money to small businesses in the developing world. Loans can be as small as $25.00 up to the full amount requested. The money lent has a full loan cycle like a standard loan, but one major difference is that you will receive updates regarding how the business you sponsored is performing. Kiva is a unique website that creates a space for even the smallest investor to contribute to others with talent and ambition, but necessarily the starting ingredients.
MINT.COM
Mint is an online tool to help you organize your financial data by pulling in data from your online accounts into one central account. What is so great about Mint is that it automatically categorizes your transactions. The categorization is not exactly perfect, but you can relabel transactions yourself with a one time change or by setting a rule for particular transactions. The graph interface organizes your data into convenient pie charts for your visual appetite.
DOCSTOC.COM
DocStoc is an online library of business documents shared by its user community. Currently DocStoc is in a beta release, but you can get an invite by going to TechCrunch for an invitation code. This would be an excellent tool for entrepreneurs starting out. Forgetting scouring the web for templates, just go to DocStoc!
