Emily and I were watching tv the other minute and saw a Lose Your Excuse ad called “April”. It shows a young girl being interviewed by a young boy in an hard-hitting reporter style about the cell phone charger left plugged into the wall socket.
“That’s not my charger. I don’t even have a cell phone,” April protests before being betrayed by a ringing from her pocket.
“Unplug Phone Chargers” comes the admonition at the close of the ad.
“See,” offers Emily, “now that’s brilliant.”
“Compared to what?”
“Compared to, you know, “˜Don’t run your dishwasher during this hour’ or “˜Compost!’ You have to be kind of a greenie already to pay attention to that kind of stuff…”
“You mean the Earth Hour stuff?”
“Yeah. But this? This is what people need. Unplug your phone chargers. And what about if I just used some toilet paper to wipe my nose? Is it better to flush it or throw it away? A short spot that tells me the answer to that question will stick with me.”
“My cell phone charger is still plugged in.”
“Yeah, mine is too.”
…
…
“But, I’m unplugging it right now. And I’m not going to compost.”
I think the Environment gets to call this one a win.