Slashdot Mirror


Advertisers Co-Opting The Lorax With Half-Truths About Conservation

pigrabbitbear writes with an interesting opinion on the "green" marketing surrounding The Lorax movie adaptation. From the article: "There may be all kinds of reasons to defend the Lorax — Dr. Seuss's wondrous children's fable that's also a seminal book about conservation — from the wrath of Lou Dobbs and Fox News and others to whom the children's book-turned-Disney film is little more than liberal propaganda. ... For adults dealing with the real world of compromise, the Lorax is loved and hated for being such a ridiculously staunch environmentalist. Dude refuses to give an inch, which isn’t realistic, but certainly makes him a compelling character. That character is now being used as a shill for the CX-5, a small SUV that’s being billed as fuel-efficient and eco-friendly. What has the poor Lorax become?"

17 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Tragedy by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

    That character is now being used as a shill for the CX-5, a small SUV that’s being billed as fuel-efficient and eco-friendly.

    I'm more concerned about lightning mcqueen from cars and cars2 being used to sell my kid a lunch box and thermos (true story!)

    Come on... slow news day?

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:Tragedy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No--there using this story as a metric of how many /. readers are sympathetic to OWS and similar political agendas. With all the changes since Taco left (flags?), this subtle quantification and increase in slashvertisements has made it ever more clear how /. will sell its users as product. Damn it. My post is self-fulfilling prophecy.

      No, you post is unreadable due to the font.

    2. Re:Tragedy by Yobgod+Ababua · · Score: 4, Funny

      Also unreadable due to poor grammar and an almost total lack of sense.

  2. I cringed when I saw the trailers by John3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Lorax was was of my favorite books by Dr. Seuss. I was a regular participant in "Read Aloud" days at our local elementary school, and when I had a choice of the book this is the one I selected to read. It was a simple story, well illustrated, and enjoyable.

    Obviously to stretch the story to a feature length film the writers had to include additional story elements, but it just looks SO busy. I wish they would stop destroying these classics, but I guess Hollywood is grasping for ideas and hoped to trade off nostalgia for this story and lure parents to the theater with their children. Pick up the book instead, read it to your kids, and discuss.

    --
    "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
  3. Re:News for Nerds by ryanov · · Score: 4, Funny

    "To whom."

  4. Earlier Suess by Mikkeles · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Early in his career, Geisel drew copy for FLIT (a particularly noxious insect spray) advertising; I wonder if that is what drove him to create such an uncompromising Lorax.

    --
    Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    1. Re:Earlier Suess by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 4, Informative

      A few years ago I saw some of his political cartoons. It was kind of odd seeing cartoons in the style of Suess but targeted to adults.

      --
      Time to offend someone
  5. Don't worry about it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This movie will be forgotten in five years, whereas the book will remain. Just keep your damn kids away from the movie.

  6. So... by Kjella · · Score: 4, Funny

    Advertisers Co-Opting The Lorax With Half-Truths About Conservation

    So about 50% more truth than usual then?

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  7. Not a Disney film! by ahecht · · Score: 4, Informative

    Disney has nothing to do with The Lorax. Like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat, this is a Universal Pictures film. It is being produced by Universal's Illumination Entertainment, the same studio that did Despicable Me and Hop.

    1. Re:Not a Disney film! by The+Moof · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's like you've just won a rusted out 1992 Geo Metro with a broken radio.

  8. Re:No surprise by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I look forward to Mickey Mouse coming out of copyright protection myself.

    Me too. I am so looking forward to Mickey Mouse as a drug-addicted former child star who beats Minnie Mouse, makes a pornographic movie and ends up choking in his own vomit.

    I've been working on the screenplay since 1996. Miramax keeps turning me down for some reason. But as soon as the Mouse is out of copyright, I'm going straight to Searchlight.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. Re:What's the deal with prawns and shrimps? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Kinda... and kinda not.

    The difference is like the difference between butterflies and moths; frogs and toads. Sometimes it is easy to tell the difference- sometimes it isn't- and sometimes the common name "shrimp" or "prawn" for a species is technically incorrect.

    Frequently people call larger species "prawn" and smaller species "shrimp". This isn't always true.

    Also, shape of gills is sometimes used- but this isn't always accurate. Sometimes which leg has the dominant pinchers is used- again this isn't always accurate.

    The only truly accurate way to determine if a species is shrimp or prawn is to look at it's DNA. They are both decapods, (like lobster, crayfish, etc), but they diverged a way back.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  10. Lou Dobbs and Fox News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Fuck those people. You have a propaganda film out now that every conservative dickweed should be able to enjoy. Act of Valor, the one starring real soldiers, using live ammunition, and overseen by the Pentagon. Stop bitching that other people have what you also have.

  11. Re:My problem with extremist environmentalists by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you're going to advocate something radical, you had damn well have a pretty good answer on *how* where going to do it without throwing society into chaos. It's nice to save the environment, but we humans are part of that environment too.

    If you're going to advocate something environmentally harmful, you had damn well better have a pretty good answer on how we're going to live that way without destroying our ecosystem. It's nice to have shiny things, but we humans can't live without the environment.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. Re:Define fuel efficient. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The main advantage of SUV's [sic] are their clearance

    Actually, the main advantages of SUVs are that they allow you to buy a station wagon without getting the "I'm a suburban drone" vibe that goes with a station wagon, and that they are classified as light trucks by the federal government, enabling them to bypass many of the environmental regulations imposed on cars.

  13. liberal propaganda by celle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Dude refuses to give an inch"

        Then he's no liberal. If you look around the stubborn ones are the "my way or no way" republicans. The liberals and the centrists are the ones that have been giving ground the last 18 years. That's why the country is so fucked up with a constitution that's a joke and a dysfunctional regulatory system allowing public to be raped by corporations.