The greying of greenspeak? 109schedule. In order to drive home the association between the Travel Channel and the
concept of green media, the station’s logo appeared in stark monochrome green. At
6:00 p.m. on January 3, 2010, for 1 hour the channel changed the backdrop of the
whole program to green instead of a default color (Li 2012).
Despite this green repackaging, the channel continues to offer a smorgasbord
of travel shows, fashion, recreational shows, variety shows, and lifestyle programs
featuring— often prominently—the highly unsustainable sport of golf as one of its
promoted sports. The channel’s official website makes clear that its three priorities
are travel, fashion, and golf. In other words, the notion of “green” is exploited as a
marketing ploy, a product differentiation tactic and a branding exercise, rather than
representing a real commitment to environmental concerns. A careful perusal of
the programs produced by this supposedly green channel reveals little evidence of
it’s being part of the “green public sphere”. One may be tempted to conclude that
by wrapping itself literally in a green cloak, the channel is in fact responsible for
promoting a wide range of consumption and recreational activities—for example
golfing—that seem to put strain on rather than protect and preserve the environment.
The competitive television market has also forced other channels to milk the
appeal of “going” green, which has had the adverse effect of watering down the
green message. On May 1, 2010, Qinghai Satellite TV launched Low Carbon
Everyday (Tiantian Ditan), the first television program in China dedicated to the
environment. After the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in 2009 and the
Party Congress in March 2010, “low carbon” became a catchphrase in urban China,
synonymous with a new and more ethical way of life. Cashing in on the symbolic
value of the term, Low Carbon Everyday was broadcast at 18:55 every day, lasting
5 minutes. Despite its brevity, the program quickly attracted high ratings due to
its daily dose of environmentally friendly advice and information that consumers
could easily understand and even act on. A perusal of the content produced on
this program in the first year or so reveals a genuine and consistent commitment
to promoting green messages. For instance, Episode 166, “Low-carbon Domestic
Appliances”, introduces new furniture and household appliances that are made
from paper and encourages viewers to experiment with making their own furniture
out of recycled paper. Episode 167, “Recycling Your Garbage”, introduces a few
ways in which domestic garbage can be turned into garden soil, renewable energy,
and reconstituted plastic building material. Episode 168, “Taking a Low-carbon
Shower”, advises consumers on ways of saving water, saying that long showers
are not only unnecessary for cleaning purposes, they are also bad for the skin. The
episode also demonstrates to viewers how to save water if they follow a different
shower routine. Episode 177, “Low-carbon Fashion”, demonstrates convincingly
to viewers that expensive, fashionable clothes require much more energy to make
and urges viewers to be aware of this factor when clothes-shopping.
Ironically, if protecting the environment was its original objective, the program
may have become a victim of its own success. A year or so after launching the
show, Golden Eagle Media, the creative design and planning team, affiliated with
the successful Hunan Satellite TV that was behind Low Carbon Everyday, decided
that the popularity of the program could be exploited to achieve further profit.