1. For a Living Planet.

This ad works immediately. You can almost hear your computer’s alert sound. It could work very well digitally, because you could do the alert for real (National AIDS Trust – Finalist, Cyberlions, 2002).

2. The Future is Man Made.

So immediate it makes your brain ache. The small plastic turtle will, if we’re not careful, will be the death of small real turtles. Irreducible

3. Before It’s Too Late.

The rainforests are the lungs of the planet, so let’s not cut them down before it’s too late. An image that has a simple message and clear grammar: A great example of today’s popular no-headline ads.

4. Evolution.

All that evolution, for a coat. What a ridiculous let down, you think. Perfect. Another no-headline idea that works.

5. If we Don’t Stop Global Warming, Nature Will.

The image collapses the distance between the problem (petrol car) and the effect (rising sea level). A Trojan Horse.

6. Clorox

The reverse graffiti artist Moose clean sprayed San Francisco’s Broadway tunnel for Clorox through DDB (blogged with film here). And won a Silver at Cannes. Much like the The Future is Man Made turtle ad the message is delivered through the process it pertains to.

7. Boomerang

Image-as-metaphor ads can get awfully convoluted. Not this one for Greenpeace, by DDB in Paris.

And the 5 sustainable ads that don’t (work)

1. Eco bags

TBWA\Vancouver launched a line of environmentally-friendly bags. Headlines like “My other bag is in my SUV” and images such as a logger at work, or a monster truck, are intended to steer away from the earnest nature of environmental products. Rather like your drunk Uncle dancing at a wedding – it’s all wrong.

2. Earth Hour

Borrowed interest is tricky to pull off. It’s a delicate balancing act. One that has to help shorten the distance between the product and the benefit. In this case the distance is increased: ‘The Dark Side’ is a useful thought but is clumsily positioned as positive. The huge weight of the Star Wars franchise can’t help but suffocate. And I guess George Lucas let it be for a good cause.

3. You Can’t Afford to be Slow in an Emergency

This takes way too long to decode. It’s like visual long-division. All the best work short circuits your brain – this makes you feel like you’re counting to 10 using your fingers. With your tongue poking out. And mouthing the numbers.

4. Give a Hand to Wildlife

Puns are always tricky. But with no clear call to action, all you get out of this is that your hand looks like an elephant.

5. Save Paper. Save Wildlife.

The execution feels a bit forced.

Related posts:

1. 5 incentives that create sustainable behaviour
2. Resetting cultural norms: A sustainable strategy
3. Sustainable challenger brands need to look at social media with ’soft eyes’
4. Sustainable behaviour in the office – making it universal and inexpensive
5. Press Release: Advertising Agency Pro Quits To Set up Agency Exclusively For Sustainable Products
6. How do governments finance sustainable initiatives without raising taxes?