Jan 8, 2009

Green or Ghastly Marketing?

Like a lot of people, I have managed to get on a few catalog mailing lists, which is not always a bad thing. But I have to marvel at West Chester, Ohio's own Frontgate, who seem intent on killing as many trees as possible with their non-stop catalog mailings. Along with their sister operation Grandin Road, which seems to carry a lot of the same home products, it seems I get a new one at least every other month, which is about three times too many, assuming you'd allow for a logical summer/fall/holiday season mailing. I looked to see if there was any note of being "printed on recycled paper" anywhere, but I couldn't find anything of that sort.

With the contemporary focus on being "green" and environmentally friendly, this kind of catalog marketing seems like a bit--or maybe a lot--of overkill. Yes, I like to look at some of the things they offer...but I am notoriously cheap, so I generally opt for less-expensive or home-made alternatives. The product photography is nice, and I am sure they are keeping a lot of catolog layout artists and photographers gainfully employed. Of course, I also know these paper catalogs can be recycled, but still...

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