Advertising, excess consumption and climate change [View all]

[lostnfound]

Recently, it occurred to me that few connections are ever made between advertising and climate change. Attention is paid to individual effort like buying energy star appliances or lowering your thermostat or recycling, and corporations have sustainability initiatives and/or greenwashing. But advertising as a generator of unnecessary material consumption that contributes to climate change? I personally had never heard this connection being made (or proposals to mitigate it) in public forums.

Is the connection so obvious that there’s no point in discussing it?

Corporations want growth, so they advertise. The industry I came from is a prime example of the damage that results: aviation is virtually all based on fossil fuels, and the path to sustainable commercial aviation is not clear. But growth matters to the airline industry, so they advertise, and convince more people to travel more. People who woke up this morning having no inclination or plan to travel are struck with a desire to fly to the Bahamas or else plan their third trip to Paris.

Is it possible to tax or reduce advertising -
-> in order to reduce consumption
-> in order to reduce resource extraction and energy consumption
-> in order to fight climate change?

How would you do it?
What obstacles would be encountered?
Should you give up on it because there are obstacles?

Perhaps differentially tax, based on carbon impact or category of industry?

Among the many climate-change-fighting initiatives, why is this never discussed?

I personally feel that it is a giant blind spot in climate discussions.

What do you think?

By the way, I found a couple articles on the topic when I searched today, in case anyone wants to read further:

International Journal of Advertising: Perspectives: Advertising and climate change – Part of the problem or part of the solution? Abstract: The advertising industry has a direct carbon footprint but also contributes to climate change by stimulating unsustainable economic growth, promoting climate-harmful consumerism, and greenwashing polluting products and companies. However, advertising can also play a pivotal role in fighting climate change

The Guardian: The advertising industry is fuelling climate disaster, and it’s getting away with it

The Drum blog: Is advertising causing climate change? Actually, it’s worse than that

10 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	A giant blind spot and a good opportunity for change
	10 (100%)
	Irrelevant - the economy needs ads so there's little point to discussing it
	0 (0%)
	Impossible - the drive for wealth will kill any shift away from ads
	0 (0%)
	Pointless - sustainable fuels and recycling will get us there
	0 (0%)
	I've seen plenty on this topic, it gets the attention it should
	0 (0%)
	Other
	0 (0%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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