Green fatigue

Environment | Americans are still willing to buy environmentally friendly products, but only if they’re friendly to the wallet as well | Megan Basham

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

When Audi unveiled its new "Green Police" campaign during the 2010 Super Bowl, it signaled a dramatic shift in the tidal wave of eco-conscious advertising that has been growing since the mid-2000s. In the commercial, average, relatable people make a series of innocuous decisions like choosing paper over plastic or putting an orange rind down the garbage disposal that result in their being raided by the "green police," a group of sinister-looking, big-brother-type authority figures.

Only at the end does the ad reveal what it is actually selling when, at an "eco-roadblock," a single driver is allowed to pass through unmolested because he's driving an Audi A3 TDI clean diesel. Over this frightening Orwellian image plays a remake of the Cheap Trick song "Dream Police" (only now it's Green Police).