"Green" has become a ubiquitous sales tool,
according to Denise Waggoner, vice president of creative research at Getty Images. This exploitation of the global environmental conscience is the theme of the second edition of Getty's "What Makes A Picture" Report.
This edition of the MAP Report is entitled AspEn, which stands for "aspirational environmentalism." Primarily, AspEn warns that marketers will need to be more aware of visual clichés in 2008. Consumers have become jaded and non-responsive to imagery traditionally associated with environmentalism.
The report supports this assertion with findings from a consumer survey conducted in partnership with Yankelovich Research. Data demonstrates consumers' increasing demand for authenticity in environmentally themed advertising and a growing resentment of the commercialization of an important social cause.
Additional information was gathered by Getty's in-house creative-research team, which studied over 2,500 print ads from around the world and analyzed 2007 client rebrands. Transactions conducted at the agency's Web site by over 1.5 million creatives offer comprehensive insight into image-search and purchasing decisions.
In addition to redefining the look of environmentally themed communications, Rebecca Swift, Getty's global creative planning director, warns that preaching values is a dangerous trend. Environmentalism is a highly volatile political area of public debate, and imagery must "convey this political and emotive issue in a way that makes it real for individuals and relevant on a personal level."