So sorry, no time to put my body upon the gears. I must drive my SUV to the antique store and make a few small gestures.
I saw an ad in yesterday's New Yorker for Toyota, or specifically for Toyota's greenwashing program. It was 4-page spread advertising Toyota's hybrid SUV, some sort of Toyota-sponsored environmental program to be shown on TV, and Diane Keaton. The inner 2 pages featured a photo (selected by Diane Keaton), a dippy quote from Diane Keaton, and this ghastly statement: "Diane Keaton celebrates the nature all around her by doing her part to keep our world a greener place by picking up items left at the beach, buying antiques, and driving a Toyota Highlander. She believes the key to living green is small gestures that might become habits, 'encouraging a new way of accepting responsibility for the well-being of our planet.'"
I cannot believe that Toyota believes anybody is rock-stupid enough to think that Diane Keaton's beach item-retrieval activities (what is THAT all about? Would it tarnish the brand to say "trash"?) and fondness for antiques actually reflect any kind of environmental ethic. Or that the spectacularly weeny suggestion that we might make small gestures which might encourage civic and environmental responsibility reflects any kind of environmental ethic.
I looked back at the ad after being annoyed by it all day, and I realized that the dippy quote actually more or less translates to: "Nature will last forever, no matter what," which suggests a more sinister reading - perhaps Toyota is trying to communicate that we (and Diane) can do whatever we like, and nature will recover? Anyway, it's either sinister or hideously condescending and venal, and either way it sucks.
Also, I can't figure out if she's pretending to be a scarecrow in the first picture, and somehow that just wraps the whole hideous package perfectly.
I hope Diane Keaton trips over a sixpack ring next time she's beach combing in her scarecrow outfit. And I hope Toyota's executives have transformative dreams tonight, and tomorrow launch their plans to turn it into a pedicab company.
I cannot believe that Toyota believes anybody is rock-stupid enough to think that Diane Keaton's beach item-retrieval activities (what is THAT all about? Would it tarnish the brand to say "trash"?) and fondness for antiques actually reflect any kind of environmental ethic. Or that the spectacularly weeny suggestion that we might make small gestures which might encourage civic and environmental responsibility reflects any kind of environmental ethic.
I looked back at the ad after being annoyed by it all day, and I realized that the dippy quote actually more or less translates to: "Nature will last forever, no matter what," which suggests a more sinister reading - perhaps Toyota is trying to communicate that we (and Diane) can do whatever we like, and nature will recover? Anyway, it's either sinister or hideously condescending and venal, and either way it sucks.
Also, I can't figure out if she's pretending to be a scarecrow in the first picture, and somehow that just wraps the whole hideous package perfectly.
I hope Diane Keaton trips over a sixpack ring next time she's beach combing in her scarecrow outfit. And I hope Toyota's executives have transformative dreams tonight, and tomorrow launch their plans to turn it into a pedicab company.
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