[ # ] Norway Bans Environmental Oxymorons
September 20th, 2007 under Cars, Environment


Norway has banned the use of terms like “clean, green, and environmentally friendly” in car ads:

Norway outlaws “green” cars

The rationale for the ban is simple. All cars pollute, even fuel-efficient cars, so calling a car green is a bit of a stretch. It’s like referring to filtered cigarettes as healthy. Norwegian government-type person Bente Oeverli explains, “Cars cannot do anything good for the environment except less damage than others.”

Adam Stein from Terrapass thinks environmental terms have already been bastardized by marketers, so it’s not something to get worked up about.

Personally, it seems like a strange step since as long as people are not prepared to give up their cars, they may as well be able to figure out which cars are the most “clean, green, and environmentally friendly.” It’s all relative.

It seems like a better approach would be to prohibit the use of those terms in cars failing to exceed a certain mileage level.



Related Posts

  • Bush Kicks Off Driving Season by Suspending Environmental Standards on Gas
  • France Bans Citizen Journalism
  • Katherine Kersten is Kinda Dumb
  • 108016147089271589
  • Donald Rumsfeld Likes to Torture People
  • Read the Comments

    [ # 2771 ] Comment from Gabe [September 20, 2007, 10:34 am]

    Can they say “Cleaner, Greener and More Environmentally Friendly than X”?

    [ # 2774 ] Comment from kohler [September 20, 2007, 1:21 pm]

    Not sure. It seems like car companies should be able to advertise having the cleanest car on the road. That’s not saying it’s clean, but clean for a car.

    [ # 2776 ] Comment from The Other Mike [September 20, 2007, 4:02 pm]

    Makes perfect sense, and it is completely logical and oh so Scandiwhovian…I love it.

    After all, they also have public transportation, bike lane and paths in addition to good sense. You want green, park the car.

    [ # 2785 ] Comment from The Other Mike [September 21, 2007, 9:15 am]

    And we have a winner!

    Write a comment