Not every scholar agrees at this point about the effects of green consumerism, but if I have recognized one common ground it's that advertisers are doing just what they always have done: they manipulate our thought processes into purchasing their product. There is perhaps nothing inherently wrong with this act - any time we try to argue our point to someone we try to convince them that our way is the right way. Yet something I find so fascinating about green consumerism is that these claims advertisers make are directly related to the well being of the Earth and humanity. I don't want to preach to the choir, but no one can argue that we as a human race are destroying our world in many ways (and I am not exempt from these heinous acts, as very few of us are). If companies are actually making a conscious effort to help fix these problems, I find no qualms with that. However, if they are lying to consumers about the reality of their products, ethics come into questions. Yet what standards do companies need to have? Who will regulate this? It's not as though consumers are willing to make very many decisions about which company is lying to them or not (or course, some are, but definitely not the majority). So I guess the most important thing for me to talk about in my paper is how to deal with issues of ethics in the world of mass media. This discussion will not come till the last two paragraphs of the essay, which I am alright with because of the limited time I have had to write this and the main focus of the paper being a literature review.
Now to get to it!!
