A Quieter Kind of Green

Frito Lay, the maker of Sun chips, those delicious salty yet sweet whole grain squares of goodness have taken a big step in terms of sustainability. They have created the first biodegradable package for "junk food". I commend them highly for doing so. First of all its marketing genius. Most people see Sun Chips as a healthy alternative to your regular greasy potato chip and their target market is most likely more environmentally conscious (if not for the planet, then at least for their diet). As far as how healthy Sun Chips are, I am not going to comment. I have not actually read their list of ingredients and I do not know much about their manufacturing processes either. All I can say is that they use whole grains even though they may be enriched. I guess its better than bleached. And I'll admit they are delicious and addicting. A guilty pleasure, yes but I digress.

About 18 months ago, some brilliant mind at Frito Lay decided that they will start using a biodegradable package. When I first saw the commercials for this new package, I was so excited. Finally! The giant manufacturers of the world are seeing the light! They realize that we can't go on adding more and more plastic to our landfills and garbage dumps. The process of breaking these plastics down  releases tons of toxins into our air and water supply and slowly contaminates our environment. Most frightening though is that one day we will run out of places to put the stuff. Period.

Then the new package was launched..........((crickets chirping)).............actually no! How about a subway or a motorcycle flying by!! Apparently, the bag is louder than these 2 aforementioned vehicles. Seriously, the bag is so loud people can't hear themselves talk or even crunch on their beloved chips. A Facebook campaign was started that obviously rubbed the marketing execs at Frito Lay the wrong way.  People were complaining about the noise volume of the bag and many others were joining the crusade. I'm not really sure if actual marketing research was being conducted to determine whether the noise level of the bag was a barrier to purchase the snack or whether it was a panic move by the company to save the brand's image and go back to the regular, here for eternity, bag. Either way, the decision has been  made. The shelves are being restocked and we can all go back to eating our sunny goodness in peace. Whew!

But what about our planet?  This was bigger than a bag, this was a movement. Frito Lay was a visionary, a role model for future manufacturers. They were supposed to lead the way into environmentally sustainable packaging. Where do we go now? I do believe that Frito Lay's intentions are pure. I do believe that they will go back to the drawing board and create a new and better, albeit more quiet, biodegradable bag in the future. How long that will take no one knows. But the real take away from this story is the power of the consumer. We take our power for granted. And now with the rise of social media we have a direct line to the manufacturer, a virtual speed dial. These big companies are listening to people and and if we build critical mass over some really important issues we CAN make positive changes.

If its that easy to make a company change its packaging, how easy will it be to make a company to remove a toxic ingredient or clean up its manufacturing and disposal operations or act more humanely to its workers and employees. We all need to wake up and start acting like responsible stewards of the planet. We were given this gift of planet earth and we must protect her. If we all just keep our mouths shut and go with the flow, companies will continue to cut corners and focus on nothing but profits. However, if we let them know what really matters to us, change can occur.

This to me is just a great example of the power of consumers. Unfortunately the power was not used for the greater good. Instead it was used to make things more convenient and less noisy for people. But maybe that will make the company try harder the next time. We must not give up hope.