Definition of Hybrid; A Blend of Marketing and Environment
Hybrid cars work. They work because they sell. They sell an idea, an image, a lifestyle, the future? The rise of the Toyota Prius, in California especially, is the pioneer of the trend. But who’s buying it and why? The answers to these questions aid our understanding of the eco-friendly boom we’re currently experiencing. Does the driver of a hybrid know the exact CO2 emissions or more to the point do they care. I sound like I’m a market researcher for BMW’s new line of oxygen producing vehicles (maybe, just maybe).
However these questions do have an underlying issue. Are we still subjected to and influenced by media perception or are we making informed and educated choices on the actual cost to the environment. A hybrid car (like planting trees) has an image and an associated lifestyle. But more noticeably it infects ego’s. It creates the British stiff upper lip and in the States the bold chest. Marketing at work again. Now I’m sure there are owners who are passionate activists for the Green movement and I’m positive they use their bicycles and grow their own vegetables. The niggle I have is we still have scientists debating the fundamentals on the global warming subject and with those debates set to continue until we’re ash we have to realise who is winning. Yet again the capitalistic instinct that is imbedded in the Western, generally Caucasian part of the world, will money be generated, circulated and distributed among the elite, potentially costing us our planet. I’ll be honest I do not march with the ‘Greens’ but the point is the mentality of business and fiscal gain will inevitably be the pitfall in the divine balance of life. Will have to see if the ‘Greens’ got it right. I’m on the fence.
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