Arctic Papers Advert

This is recent press advert for a new brand of recycled paper called ‘Munken’ by Arctic Paper. The main focus of the advert is the large line/dot diagram with the heading ‘Interesting or frightening’. This combination made me initially think that it was some sort of personality test – the kind where depending on what you see can tell a physiatrist what your personality is – however when you read the copy it explains that the illustration is actually an airline route map, that airlines currently contribute to 2% of world CO2 emissions and that this is expected to double by 2012 and that this interesting diagram does have frightening implications. The advert then goes on to say that designers can help cut carbon emissions by using this new brand of high quality recycled paper. The reason that I like this advert is that unlike some other adverts selling green products at first glance it doesn’t obviously look like a ‘green product advert’ – the colour green isn’t used and there are no large statistics showing how this product will help cut carbon emissions – instead the designers have created a type of advert that will appeal directly to their target audience (other designers) – a advert that has a clever idea behind it.