• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 29, 2020

Patagonia put out an ad over the holiday weekend that spun negativity about fixing the climate crisis completely around.

Here’s the print copy that ran in the ad Friday in TheNew York Times:

        We’re all toast

        So don’t tell us that

        We can imagine a healthy future

        Because the reality is

        It’s too late to fix the climate crisis

        And we don’t trust anyone who says

        We need to demand a livable planet

        Because we don’t have a choice

Now, as the ad instructs, read that copy from the bottom up.

That’s a clever piece of copywriting that I’d bet is going to win an award or two. The ad goes on tell you some of the things that Patagonia is doing to help stem the crisis, such as using recycled materials in its products.

And it also tells you what you can do.

Instead of feeding the consumer impulse to buy, it suggests you ask yourself before buying something new whether you really need it, to repair worn-out stuff and hand things down, among other tips.

Patagonia isn’t the only brand expressing sustainability messages in its ads. But kudos to them for placing the ad on Black Friday, when most of the marketing noise is about deals and frenzy buying.

Of course, this year is a little different, thanks to the pandemic. It’d be nice to think that future Thanksgiving weekends could be a little (or a lot) less focused on manically seeking out shopping deals and giving more thought to what and when we buy stuff.

And maybe also a little more focused on the Thanks part of Thanksgiving. Hope yours was a good one.