Can Global Warming Sell More Than Candy?

My fellow blogger, John Dodge put up an excellent post criticizing the trend among companies to jump on the renewable/sustainable bandwagon by promoting technologies and products with dubiously eco-friendly names, “Bluetech, Clean Tech, other green variants sound like Bull Tech”.

In the same vein, the Reese’s division of Hershey’s candy company has been running a commercial spot that implores viewers to “Stop Global Warming Now… Or All the Reese’s will Melt.” Is the company trying to cash in by exploiting our growing environmental consciousness to sell candy? Or are they poking fun at America’s frenzied desire to go green by any means possible, even when the underlying motivations are asinine?

Reactions to this advertisement from industry insiders indicate the later: Reese’s is poking fun at armchair environmentalists. For example, Eleftheria Parpis of Adweek writes “Global warming isn’t funny, but I just couldn’t help but laugh out loud at this new 15-second Reese’s spot from Arnold that, um, puts the crises in proper perspective.”

Nonetheless, if Reese’s can leverage global warming to sell peanut butter cups, when will companies whose products become more desirable if temperatures rise begin to use a similar advertisement strategy? With potentially hotter summers, will Carrier use this scheme to sell air conditioner units? Will Century 21 start pushing real estate investments in Canada and Alaska on speculation of a big thaw?

Apparently at least one blog reader is already eager to buy land up north (see “Canada Cashing in on the Melting Northwest Passage”), and the advertisements have not yet even started.