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<\/a>The campaign Dow has undertaken around the issue of water with a virtual conference featuring “60 leading thinkers as they explore the future of water” raises the issue of whether doing good needs to be based on a history of being good. I don’t know where you come down on this issue, but the money large corporations are spreading around and the extensive social media campaigns they are conducting, are to my eye not very honest, nor informative, nor very personal.\u00a0 BP is spending wads of money saying the Gulf is “nearly back to normal.”\u00a0 The research shows that “consumers” are not convinced, but have short memories, so companies that aren’t being good, but do good are counting on our short attention spans and poor memories.<\/p>\nI had been asked to participate, I did my sixty seconds of video and the feedback was it wasn’t personal enough and was offered a do-over.\u00a0 I thought that odd at the time because I read all the material they sent, I have a long history as a corporate marketing person, and, I prepared for it.\u00a0 But.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Anna Lappe a leading expert on sustainability and a national bestselling author, most P.S. Here is the link<\/a> to the virtual conference on water campaign and her is the link to her video on EarthSayers.tv<\/a><\/p>\n FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n June 6, 2011<\/p>\n Dow Chemical Greenwashing Campaign Exposed<\/p>\n Watch the Video America’s Largest Chemical Maker Doesn’t Want You to See<\/p>\n When a Dow Chemical PR firm asked author Anna Lapp\u00e9 to contribute a video about the future of water for Dow\u2019s flashy new \u201cvirtual conference\u201d called \u201cThe Future We Create,\u201d she was delighted to provide them with exactly what they had asked for.<\/p>\n In her 60-second submission, Lapp\u00e9 stressed that toxic chemicals are one of the biggest global threats to water and people, and that Dow itself is one of the biggest sources of such threats. The PR company swiftly rejected the video, but they didn\u2019t give up: they asked Lapp\u00e9 to record a new video. \u201cDow, as a huge corporation with resources, is sponsoring that [\u201cFuture We Create\u201d] effort, which you have to admit is pretty cool,\u201d the PR firm wrote to Lapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat would be pretty cool,\u201d Lapp\u00e9 replied, \u201cwould be if the company put even a fraction of the resources it spends on marketing into cleaning up communities whose water it has polluted.\u201d<\/p>\n Lapp\u00e9 is launching her rejected video today on a YouTube channel that will also include videos from the public about the future they\u2019d like to create.<\/p>\n At the same time Dow launches their \u201cvirtual conference,\u201d the company is actively fighting multiple lawsuits from communities\u2014including Dow\u2019s own hometown of Midland, Michigan\u2014alleging the company has polluted their water. More information on Dow\u2019s history of water contamination, and on organizations fighting for clean water, will shortly be available at www.afuturewecreate.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe future we should be creating is one in which no one has to worry about whether the water they drink is tainted by carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, or neurotoxins manufactured by Dow,\u201d said Lapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n The Yes Lab, a project of The Yes Men that helps activist groups carry out media-getting creative actions on their own, assisted Lapp\u00e9 in developing her response. For more information or for interviews, please contact Anna Lapp\u00e9, Small Planet Institute, 917-476-4896, anna@smallplanet.org (website: www.smallplanet.org).<\/p>\n![\"anna_lappe_0\"](\"https:\/\/earthsayers.tv\/sustainabilityadvocate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/anna_lappe_0.jpg\" "\\"anna_lappe_0\\"")
<\/a>recently of Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It, was much more aggressive than I and produced her own video (I did my video interview over Skype so do not have access to it) and when rejected decided to take some action. She is a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute and Small Planet Fund and an active board member of Rainforest Action Network.\u00a0 Here is her press release. In my next blog post, I will publish the letter I wrote DOW when declining a second opportunity.<\/p>\n