Poland Spring Eco-Shape Bottle

I'm not sure if it's the design industries' embracement of sustainable design practices over the past five years, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth or magazines like Vanity Fair dedicating entire issues to Green, but sustainable design has hit the mainstream. With green's increasing popularity there are lots of people and organizations lining up to give us advice on how to do our part to help save the environment. One of the big tips - stop drinking bottled water. I've seen this message so many times in the past few months that I've started wondering what the bottled water industry's response would be. Would the industry ignore the noise (and hope that it fades over time) or would they look at new ways to become more environmentally friendly.  As I was thinking this I opened up my refrigerator to find an oddly shaped Poland Spring bottle. I picked it up and read the label "New Eco-Shape Bottle."  It's made with 30 percent less plastic (which consumes less energy to produce) and is designed to be easily crushed for recycling. As a marketer I applaud Poland Spring's effort to not only do their part for the environment, but to create a message that can resonate with an audience who is being told by countless others to stop drinking their product. Think about it, you really want a bottle of water, but you have a fresh message in your head telling you it's bad for the earth, then you see there's a less evil choice, suddenly the guilt dissipates and your back on your bottled water habit. Very smart Poland Spring, very smart.