Media Ethics: Issues and Cases 8th Edition by Philip Patterson, Lee Wilkins

Exercise 5

Corporate Responsibility: Doing Well by Doing Good?
CHRISTINE LESICKO
University of Missouri
Being environmentally conscious is the wave of the present. In an effort to go green, top water purification system manufacturer, Brita, has launched a campaign Web site designed to influence people to stop using water bottled in plastic.
The Web site, filterforgood.com, includes statistics on plastic bottle waste, a pledge one can take, plus statistics of how many bottles have been saved by those who took the pledge. The Web site also includes links to the NBC show "The Biggest Loser," a weight-loss reality show, and where to buy Brita products. The site also promotes Nalgene reusable bottles, a bike race for the environmental cause and a college grant program.
Facts included on filterforgood.com are, "America used 50 billion water bottles in 2006 and sent 38 billion bottles to landfills, the equivalent of 912 million gallons of oil." The Web site reports, "The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes."
If Web site visitors opt to pledge to reduce plastic bottle waste, they receive a coupon and more information about Brita filtration systems. Visitors can also purchase a "handy kit" to help become more eco-friendly which includes a Filter-For-Good Nalgene bottle, 10 On the Go sticks from Crystal Light, Kool-Aid and Country Time, along with other offers and coupons.
Brita's campaign is obviously not hiding its affiliation with sponsors. However, as a news article in the New York Times noted, Clorox-Brita's parent company-does not take back used water filters, which means there is no effective way to recycle them. Beth Terry, who developed the Web site TakeBacktheFilter.org, notes "in order to give up bottled water, you have to switch to another plastic product that's not recyclable."
The Web site includes a petition to Clorox to initiate a recycling program plus collecting used filters for recycling. The site also notes, "while the original European Brita GmbH Company has created a take-back recycling program for its filter cartridges, Clorox has no such program in place for reusing or recycling Brita cartridges." The site commends Clorox for what it is doing, but also notes the underlying irony of the campaign itself.
Should news journalists investigate campaigns of this sort and write about what they find?