The Most Insidious Greenwashing

📣 A 5-minute story on how Apple manipulates you.

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Undoubtedly, Apple's 'Mother Nature' status report video made the buzz.

The Desired Emotional Response

I watched this video twice, and part of me immediately wanted to applaud them 👏. It's a fantastic, high-production, and well-executed marketing stunt.

It may also be part of the solution to rally the masses in our fight against climate change.

Why? Because it's inspiring, fun, and entertaining.

As my friend and fellow content creator Art Lapinsch wrote in his article Climate has Story Problem, we need to Entertain in order to Educate.

When it comes to Climate Change, it's not that we lack knowledge, but rather that we lack EMOTION!

And I appreciate their efforts to bring attention to the issues of single-use pollutants such as plastic and water usage, as well as the importance of tree planting.

If Apple is taking action, it may inspire other major companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and many Fortune 500 companies to do the same.

However, there is another troubling side to this story… After my initial positive emotional response, I conducted a small investigation to uncover the truth.

The Truth

This Mother Nature clip is fundamentally flawed because it is still influenced by the culture of growth in marketing.

It promotes constant consumption, always pushing for MORE.

If you need further proof, just watch their iPhone 15 release video, which received 10 times more views than Mother Nature's video.

Let's be real, who wouldn't want an iPhone 15 after watching this incredible commercial?

See how they are trying to evoke nonsensical desire:

“Professional film making in the palm of your hand” 🎥

“It’s made of Titanium, which basically means it’s light enough to get up into space and strong enough to make it all the way back to Earth” 😂😂

“A Movie-making, high-res-shot-taking gaming powerhouse built with aerospace-grade titanium” 👾

But, what is the actual problem underlying all of this?

Not Addressing the Core Problem

What about Planned Obsolescence?

Repairing iPhones is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. Once again, Apple is being accused of planned obsolescence, which is currently being investigated by French regulators (source).

If you need evidence of this, take a look at this.

What about the fact that cable standards have been changing every year?

If you've owned any Apple product, you're probably familiar with this issue. There's a high likelihood that you've had to purchase new adapters and accessories to stay up to date.

And the expenses can accumulate VERY QUICKLY.

Great historical summary by The Verge

Conclusion

What Apple is doing is the most deceptive form of Greenwashing.

They are leading you to believe that Nature itself grants them a LICENSE TO SELL.

So they can freely sell you the same-looking $1300 phone that they sold the year prior, which features that 99% of people don't need.

You could swap them, it wouldn’t make a difference.

Changing cable standards and pushing algorithm and software updates every year renders your old phones obsolete.

This practice should be illegal.

I hope it will in the future.

Apple, of course, needs to sell. However, we are aware that the world is changing and cannot sustain business as usual. Our new goal is to achieve a sustainable future, where we carefully manage the balance between commercial, societal, and environmental factors. Sustainable marketing plays a crucial role in this endeavor.

Let's draw inspiration from Apple's effective marketing techniques, such as storytelling, inspiration, and emotion, to drive positive behavioral change and establish new societal norms that promote alternative objectives, such as self-care and development, community relationships, and knowledge acquisition.

My Personal Conclusion

I have owned a OnePlus 5T phone for 6 years now. Over the summer, the storage was filled with 15,000 photos, causing it to become painfully slow.

That made it look old and ugly somehow…

I seriously considered getting a new phone.

But after running my little investigation, I decided it was non-sensical to replace this machine. It still is an insanely powerful device and just needed a little cleanup and refreshing.

To improve its look, I bought a new case for €9.

I bought a 1TB hard drive for €39 and transferred all my photos onto it. Then, I spent 2 hours organizing them.

And voilà! The thing looks shiny and brand new, and will certainly keep me happy for another 3 years 😄

My resolution is to spend less time on this thing anyway. Why would I make the game harder by getting a new phone? 👀

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