'Cause you said, said he was the one
Baby yes you said, said you were in love
Back to basics: Step 1
Arthur
JJC
Outgrowing 17
Dreamer
Poet
Lover
Atheist
Left-Handed Saggitarian
My passions: Step 2
Food
Company
Writing
Movies
Music
Debates
What i am: Step 3
Strengths:
Confident
Sensitive
Eloquent
Weaknesses:
Paranoid
Unorganized
Careless
Dreams of a globetrotter wannabe: Step 4
Paris
Shanghai
London
Gold Coast
Japan(Tokyo)
Rome
Taiwan
Hong Kong
New York
San Francisco
South Korea
Wishlist
My own domain
Scholarship
To publish a book
Want to know more about me?
Read my blog and you would start discovering fragments of me
P.S. All the works here posted belong to me unless stated otherwise. If you want to post them elsewhere, please seek prior permission from me before doing so. Thanks.
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Bring your own bag day? A failure?
Thursday, August 28, 2008, 4:42 PM
Does "Bring your own bag day" work? I really think more needs to be done. The campaign itself is insufficient. In fact, I think the campaign's objectives would not be achieved and it's a failure. Can we really bring about a revolution to change the impending global meltdown or perhaps our fate is sealed. I was out yesterday in town at Borders and I was asked if i needed a bag by the staff over the counter when i was making my purchase. I was charged $0.10 for the bag. I was happy, somewhat. It was heartening to discover that companies are doing more to help in climate change, although whether the driving force is to maximize their profits (by cutting down their cost on plastic bags by getting consumers to pay for them) or whether it's truly for a greener environment is debatable. But, it dosen't matter, does it?
Why does NTUC restrict it's campaign only to Wednesdays? I feel NTUC should just implement it every single day. Perhaps, now it's the right time to make this change as people are getting increasingly used to the idea of bringing your own bag. Anyway, I was at NTUC a couple of weeks ago and while I was queueing up, I saw the counter staff giving the customers the plastic bag without even asking if they need a bag. I am not sure if she got the customer to donate $0.10 for the bag though. But, this can't be the attitude that the staff have to adopt. I think it's important for them to ask if people need the bag and not just issue the customers with the bag and charge them for it. Ultimately, the purpose is not to charge the consumers but to inform them of it and try to deter them from using the plastic bags. Even though this campaign has been implemented for quite a while already, staff should still continue to ask that question. "Do you need a bag?" It's to keep that thought in the people's mind, bugging them, keeping them constantly reminded about the bags. Then, it would make an impact. If the campaign comes to a point where people are so used to this sort of a lifestyle, I say, the campaign failed.
Why? If it's part and parcel of their life already, people are unlikely to change. Think about it. The ultimate goal behind this camapign is to get consumers to change their lifestyle and not to charge them. It's simply just that. When people get used to this, they wouldn't change their consumption pattern and go on shopping and use the bags indiscriminately, the only difference being that they pay $0.10 more. On that note, did you notice something? The can that NTUC places at the counter askes for you to donate $0.10 for the bags you take and not pay for it. I suspect it's a marketing strategy to avoid an overwhelming response from consumers. But, again, what's the point if you don't put your point across strongly just like the cashier who dosen't make the effort to remind the consumers? It wouldn't work well. The use of diction has to be changed. Stronger words have to be used to drive the point across. The use of the word, donate, particularly disturbs me. It seems the least bit impactful and the fact that those funds are donated to sustain environmental causes irks me even more. It quenches the guilt in people. They know they have used a bag and paid for it and they wouldn't feel that guilty because they know they are helping to offset their carbon footprint by contributing to a fund as compared to if they were really just paying for a bag. If you were really just paying for a bag, I think it does more in terms of trying to get you to think about the issue at hand and to get you to change your lifestyle.
If we don't do something about the campaign or throw in some other campaigns, I think our efforts are futile. Perhaps what the doomsayers are talking about might just become a permanent reality.
Labels: Change, Climate, Global Warming, Green, Money, Paper, Plastic