Wow. What a campaign. Check out this innovative and clever campaign Greenpeace started September 2006 to push Apple to become more green with their products. Other electronic goods manufacturers have slowly been cleaning up their act, or at least have committed to doing so. On the other hand Apple has not been that pro-active and finds itself now bottom of the version 2.0 of the Guide to Greener Electronics.

What is really noteworthy about this particular campaign website, besides the fact that it is such a clever parody of Apple’s own site, is that the copy is at great pains to state that Apple is a great company. It says that Apple’s designs are wonderful. That it is a cutting edge company. The only problem being that the toxins within the products are damaging to the environment. And there is a request to the CEO Steve Jobs and the company to do something about it.

Not only are the toxins damaging to the environment, but a further problem is that electronic consumer goods find their way to Asia for recycling purposes. Because this is a low return business, child labour is used to maximise profits. Children are used to pull these gadgets apart and to prepare for recycling or dumping. The damage to the health of these young people is probably not even documented as yet, but cancer would surely be one of the diseases they will be suffering from.

Greenpeace shows a timeline of its efforts with regard to toxins in electronic gadgets. Their campaign against producers of electronic products started in October 2003 already. Samsung was the first to react in June 2004 by committing to phasing out all BFRs and PVC.

For marketers, this campaign is an excellent case study on how to wage a campaign across several media. There is a parody on the Apple TV commercials on YouTube. And a good job was made of the dub over Steve Job’s MacWorld Keyword speech. The campaign is supported by a very informative website. The call is to bloggers to support the campaign, thus inviting the web community to participate. Visitors to the website are encouraged to e-mail Steve Jobs. Greenpeace handed out print material at MacWorld 2007 to attendees. There are also invitations to send in T-shirt design, video and ad campaigns.

With such a good campaign, let’s hope Apple will listen and do something about the toxins still found in its products.