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"Green cars today. Blue skies tomorrow."
That's the leading contender for the competition announced last November to create a campaign slogan to pressure auto manufacturers to deliver more hybrid electric vehicles to the U.S. market.
The competition's sponsor, the Center for a New American Dream, has offered a Toyota Prius to whoever comes up with the best slogan -- 10 words or less.
Well, the top 100 entries are in -- narrowed down from nearly 35,000 submissions. Now, the Center is asking all of us to vote for the best slogan.
Here are the current top ten entries:
- Green cars today. Blue skies tomorrow.
- Build Cars as if Your Planet Depended On It
- Be a Vehicle for Change
- Go hybrid. It's just eco-logical.
- Drives great, less filling.
- Help Our Planet Get Better Mileage
- Batteries are rechargeable. Our earth is not. Hybrid.
- Hybrid vehicles - our future is riding on them
- A clean vehicle, a clean planet, a clean conscience.
- Gasoline is so last century
Okay, so it's not exactly on a par with Madison Avenue's finest. (You might not want to see the other 34,900.) But it's the best they've got.
You'll need to register on the site in order to vote. The voting deadline is February 15.
By the way, if cars aren't your thing, the Center also is offering a drawing this Earth Day (April 22) for a brand new bicycle.
February 2, 2005 in State of the Art | Permalink
Comments
There is no way the 100 finalists represent the best slogans of the bunch. I personally know of several better ones that were submitted, and not just from a subjective position on catchiness, but from the point of view of the auto-maker, ostensibly the intended target. Some of these slogans don't even relate to the issue at hand. Consider the audience. Auto-makers care and have always cared about one thing - money. They are not going to be "compelled" to build hybrids to save the planet, protect our country, or any of these things I do believe in. We can't have a slogan that preeches to the choir, but one that is constructively aimed at getting the auto-makers on board with this project. They know hybrids are in demand, and it's demand that will drive production, nothing else.
My concern is not out of scorn (I'm still a top-100 finalist after all) but for the sake of the community. How on earth were these things chosen? Darts, meatgrinder? In the interest of the campaign I think a far more thorough examination of the submitted slogans was in order and the powers that be have sabotaged their own effectiveness by not looking through the eyes of their audience. If this message reaches them, consider this my plea to make the rest of the campaign more meaningful than this part.
At the very least, if this truly IS the best 100 they received, then they should have trimmed it to 50 or 60, because many are just complete shlock. I can only pray that the "panel" that selects the final candidate is far more circumspect with regard to the intentions and guidelines of the contest, goals of the organization and the true marketability of the final slogan than the group that picked these slogans.
Posted by: A User | Feb 4, 2005 3:57:30 PM
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