Wee gripes: It’s not easy being green

Written By: - Date published: 1:04 pm, September 17th, 2009 - 10 comments
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Westpac has this ad campaign about how they’re doing their bit to reduce their environmental impact. The dumb thing is they make begin green appear unattractive.
 
You know the ads. The kid trying to get the idiot dad who works at Westpac to be more enviromentally friendly. Dad zips up his wang  after peeing in the dark etc (why they want to paint their employees as buffoons I don’t know).

Then there’s the one where kid and dad are in a Westpac Prius at the lights. A 1970 Dodge Coronet R/T pulls up beside them. The lights go green. The Coronet burns off while the Prius slowly powers up and putts along with sad dad embarrassed in front of son. That’s just bullshit. Because the electric power is right there the engine doesn’t need to rev up – the Prius does 0-60 in under 10 seconds. Not enough to beat a muscle car like the Coronet, which makes 60 in 6.5, but not exactly left in the dust. A Prius is faster off the mark than comparable cars.
 
Westpac, it’s great that you’re doing something for the environment. In fact, you’re kicking arse. Going to get in well under the 20% by 2012 target you’ve set. Which just shows, despite the Nats’ attitiude, it can be done. But don’t be jerks and discourage others from acting at the same time.

10 comments on “Wee gripes: It’s not easy being green ”

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  1. Brett Dale 1
    17 September 2009 at 1:08 pm

    They are a bank, its not up to them to educate people about climate change.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      17 September 2009 at 2:16 pm

      Well, he did get something right at the end. It’s not what you drive so much as how you drive. Couple of points:

      1.) The Prius isn’t designed to be driven as fast as possible everywhere. Doing so is massively inefficient. The BMW, which only needed to keep up, was probably being driven in it’s most economical mode.
      2.) The BMW during those ten laps was behind the Prius and in it’s turbulence and, therefore, had less air friction. In fact, it was so close it was effectively being dragged along by the Prius.

      Don’t believe everything you see on TV, most of it’s bollix.

  3. Gosman 3
    17 September 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Ummm… perhaps you should try and get a sense of humour about the topic.

    One of the big problems with the environmentalist movement is they all seem so earnest and lacking in fun. It is all doom and gloom and how we’re all greedy, evil, consumers who are destroying the planet.

    Very few people like to be preached at all the time. This is often the impression people have of the Green movement.

    Taking a lighter approach to the topic, such as the Westpac ads, might actually have more impact on shaping peoples attitudes, than the rather dour and funless approach that many choose to take.

    • Heretic 3.1
      17 September 2009 at 2:47 pm

      Glad you mentioned the preaching. When people dont belong to your faith the standard way of recruiting them to your faith is to preach to them. Its not very effective, most people like the srmons their own church gives better than those the other church gives.

      Remember that the road to heaven is littered with the detritus of failed utopian projects, like socialism, globalism etc etc. They all pray to the same God. Who cares what the banks do, or what the Greens say. We may be better to make alternative arrangements rather than trying to save the edifice of our current faith system.

  4. Lanthanide 4
    17 September 2009 at 1:37 pm

    I’ve never understood why advertisers make people who use their products look stupid on their ads, but it is quite common.

  5. Tiger Mountain 5
    17 September 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Mixed message alright. Who’da thought though, someone at the Standard knows a bit about cars. A well tuned V8 is actually quite efficient for certain usage, not that everyone should or could daily drive a 383/440ci Coronet, how many disposable Prius will be built over the years? That old Dodge is still with us. My V8 mates might be concerned though to be thought of as recyclers!

  6. StephenR 6
    17 September 2009 at 2:23 pm

    Who’da thought though, someone at the Standard knows a bit about cars.

    I think we all learned a bit when Al Gore’s son was busted doing 100mph in a Prius a few years back 😀

  7. StephenR 7
    17 September 2009 at 2:29 pm

    Experimental but hey-whatever:

    The German automaker set out to prove electric cars can rival the best sports cars, so it gave the all-wheel-drive two-seater 230 kilowatts (313 horsepower) and a staggering 3,319 pound-feet of torque.

    That’s not a typo. We’ll pause for a moment to let you absorb that.

    To put that number in perspective, the Tesla Roadster, arguably the benchmark for production electric sports cars, produces 276 foot-pounds. The Dodge Viper gets 600 out of its huge V10. The Bugatti Veyron puts down 922. And the M1 Abrams tank produces 2,750 (at 3,000 RPM
    http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/audi-e-tron/