Cohesion: A Marketers Dream, A Zero-Wasters Nightmare

There's definitely an inner tension when you are both a marketer and a zero waste proponent at the same time. That's because good marketing has contributed so ingeniously -- and dangerously -- to our waste of resources on this planet we call Earth.

I've been thinking about this since it is holiday time, and I recently listened to Seth Godin's @Akimbo podcast called Cohesion and Commerce, from Thanksgiving. No, its not about trash or zero waste; its about how most of us feel the need to "belong" to our culture and, without thinking, follow pressures to do things that everyone else is doing--sometimes without even realizing that we are doing it. Specifically, he speaks about the genius marketing move of Macy's in creating (or stealing from Gimbels, he says) a Thanksgiving parade to prime the pump for spending money prior to Christmas.

That, theorizes Godin, and the Norman Rockwell Freedom from Want painting, helped to set up the cultural phenomenon of overloaded Thanksgiving tables, Black Friday (in the 50s employees began calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving to shop markdowns) and other elements urging Americans to spend for Christmas to demonstrate "prosperity".

The marketing worked--a bit too well, we zero-waste proponents believe. At the same time I wrapped some of the Christmas gifts in comics; purchased local experiences instead of goods; and recycled, composted or made leftovers from all of our meals, theres still too much trash. Everywhere: "Drowning With Holiday Trash? Heres What to Do with It in San Francisco."

Godin makes the point that we can choose not to be sucked in by the marketing, and ignore the need for cohesion. Or -- we can try a game changer -- cohesion to a new standard: zero waste.