Selling TV Time in the Name of "Green"

There's a show on the environment that airs on TV. A true story follows about how it euchres big bucks from small entrepreneurial companies with little to do about the environment.

Unsolicited contact

The Show sought out a young entrepreneur for a possible segment in the series. The fledgling company develops innovations in aviation. An initial contact expressed interest in a particular angle: how new aviation technologies are helping the environment.

What we want for "green" TV

A pre-arranged telephone discussion ensued. An assistant to the producer of the TV series asked specifically how the company reduces emissions in aviation, saves on fuel, develops hydrocarbon alternatives, or captures the pesky soot from commercial flights that settles on cities during final approach.

Enabling technologies for "green"

The young company does none of that. It makes its contributions to "green" in indirect ways. It produces low-cost, easy-to-operate aircraft for use in environmental studies and research. It provides the enabling technologies that allow environmentalists to do what they do.

There's money in "green"

In the past, such innovative companies gravitated to defense, where a lucrative market for advanced aviation technologies existed for the security of the nation and protection of the people. But not any more. Lucrative markets now reside in "green," where government monies are available at any expense. Defense no longer garners government support for the latest technologies, environment does.

TV "greenies"

Combining celebrity, access to broadcasting, and public demand for "green," TV seeks to show how protecting the people of this nation has yielded to protecting the air, water, and animals instead.

The aviation innovations the young entrepreneur develops are enabling technologies that help environmentalists do their work. His explanations to the TV people revealed clearly that the technologies themselves affect environment only indirectly.

Buy TV time anyway

That was the best twenty minutes of the half-hour conversation. The assistant TV producer listened with admiration for the new turn aviation technologies were taking. At the same time, the assistant had no clue what an enabling technology is, or how it contributes to the environment without cleaning air, water, or animals.

The real business of "green"

The assistant changed his tone and got down to the real business of the conversation. "We'd like to do a five-minute segment on your company. It will take 6 hours to shoot at your location and cost you $20,000 for us to come out."

Pause.

The last ten minutes of the conversation constituted digesting the twenty minutes that came before. The direction of the discussion was downhill. A spot on the Show was what was being hawked, a solicitation for expensive advertising on entertainment TV stoked with a "green" title and celebrity host.

"Green" in name only

In the name of the environment, money is made for nothing. A marketing ploy using "green" would attract viewers to the Show and reinforce its TV customer base. This, while the Show collected big bucks from small start-up companies with little means to afford TV ads and even less connection with anything "green."

"Green" interferes with progress

In Southern California, environment fanatics and famous faces of all kinds surround the folks trying to make a serious contribution to society and technological advancement.

For the young entrepreneur, the flattery of the initial contact faded fast. He declined the TV deal, while the environment remains the same, and the Show suckers other young entrepreneurs seeking five minutes of TV fame at their own expense.

Source: This is a true story and based entirely on the personal experience of a friend.