Shameless Marketing from Nabob

I've worked in marketing in my life.  I had one friend in particular with no respect for my career choice at the time.  While I tried to explain the merit of quality marketing and company communications to the public, he told me I was in the propaganda and manipulation business.  Before moving from Canada, I saw a commercial from coffee brand Nabob that made me reconsider my friend's perspective. Nabob is a Canadian brand of retail grocery store coffee.  If you look deeply enough, you'll see that they are owned by Kraft Foods, the mac and cheese people!  First, we'll look at the commercial I saw, and then we'll look at the follow-through on the company's website.  From there, you be the judge of whether a multinational conglomerate that says the "right things" is actually making a difference, or simply paying lip service for better marketing.[ad#Google Adsense - use me]If a company wanted to strike a chord with coffee farmers living in poverty, this actor wouldn't waste a pound of coffee by throwing it on the floor.  You may think I'm splitting hairs, but if you had an appreciation for the toil of a coffee farmer and the fact that on average, it takes one coffee worker to support one coffee drinker, then you wouldn't waste product for a more interesting commercial.A lot of money went into this commercial, clearly partnered with the Rainforest Alliance.  A 30-second spot doesn't usually tell you the whole story, so luckily these days, we have websites for companies to use as more expansive brochures of their initiatives.  Let's learn more about Nabob's coveted Better Beans, Better Coffee, Better Planet program.  Page 1:Bravo, Nabob!  All coffee is naturally green in color before it's roasted.I think the Rainforest Alliance is a cool initiative and I'm looking forward to learning more about it.  Here, there is no information given on environmental stewardship or sustainability.  I hope "greener" is in quotation marks to separate it in meaning from the color, and not because the marketer isn't sure what the term means.Hmmmm, no follow-up comments.  The Nabob coffee is green out of the coffee cherry (as is all coffee), and it is cultivated in undefined responsible ways.Now, it's just comical.  I think they assume that nobody would actually click the third and fourth coffee bean icons.  This reference to a better planet must relate to the undefined environmental practices, but the illustration shows us the tin can that the coffee comes in.  I'm becoming concerned that the Rainforest Alliance is a seal that lets lazy corporations pretend they're making a difference - it is the only credibility that Nabob has in this campaign.If you really want a better coffee, don't buy it from the grocery store.  If you really want a coffee that's better for the environment, look for the Organic seal.  If you're interested in putting a few more pennies into the hands of the hardest working people in the coffee supply chain, look for the Fair Trade seal.  In other words, find your local coffee roaster.  If you're having trouble locating one, e-mail me and I will be happy to help you find one.