Green Print Advertising

I received this mailer today from Alpha Graphics, which boasts of their green commitment despite being a printer of advertising. Two lines from it absolutely stick out like Archie Bunker at Lilith Fair: "We're all anxious to find ways to reduce our impact on the environment." "Like you, Eric, we take environmental responsibility seriously." I think most people would see this and ask, "If you were really dedicated to reducing your impact on the environment, wouldn't you start by not putting this crap in my mailbox?" After all, once I scanned it for pictures to put in this post, I mailed it off to the nearest landfill. I asked Ruben Munoz in our Creative Department if this stuff was even biodegradable. "It is," he said, mildly deflating my rant. A UV coating - which this is - is going to more easily bio-degrade than something embossed in plastic. You can apparently tell if it will break down or not if you can tear it easily. I tore this one several times before tossing it, and sure enough it tore very easily.

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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