Speaking For The SUVee's Instead of the Trees

Speaking For The SUVee's Instead of the Trees

On this, Earth Day, I decided to pull a recycling job and dig out one of the articles I was working on when the movie was about come out - but then just, for some reason or some lethargic action - never bothered touching.

So it may seem dated as the film is probably in the dollar theaters, but it's relevant to Earth Day as the Lorax was one of those Dr. Seuss books that was pretty blunt with its undertones. So it's really strange to see that the marketing behind it was so.... capitalistic and anti-environmentally friendly.

Just look, they have him pimping out carbon omitting cars, for Christ sake..



Worse of all, it's not just a simple ad. It seemed that the whole marketing behind it was to pimp it out to their parents through their kids - not only as they sat in theaters, but in test focus groups.

“At Polk Elementary on Tuesday, more than 100 kindergarteners and fourth- and fifth-graders crowded into the multipurpose room for a rendition of Seuss’s classic environmentalist tale,” wrote Emma Brown.

Brown then described how a Mazda representative stood up, and told the children how they could help raise money for their school, winning a sweepstakes entry trip to Universal Studios in the process.

“All they had to do was persuade their parents to go to the nearest Mazda dealership for a test-drive,” Brown wrote. “For every person who test-drives a car -- and brings in a special certificate, which students received at school Tuesday -- Mazda will donate $25 to the NEA’s foundation for public schools.”

I'm... like, completely shocked. I'm also wondering why they didn't just cut out the middle man and offer promotional Lorax Brand axes to chop away trees left and right. But maybe I shouldn't be mad. I mean, that is capitalism working in a way to help a socialist problem. If they don't donate the $25, what will they do with it? Invest it into more consumer products they can pimp out and try to get these kid's parents to purchase down the line?

So there. I did a little recycling, but like any wedding I'll provide something old, something new something borrowed and something blue. It is, after all, Earth Day. So happy Earth Day! Just not sure when. Maybe later today if I'm not busy hugging a tree.