110 Wanning Sun
In August 2011, the 5-minute program was extended to half an hour each day,
while still labeled China’s first television program dedicated to green themes. A
juxtaposition of the content before and after the format change, however, reveals
a much more noticeable dilution of the green content and padding with much non-
green content. Now packed with celebrities, light-hearted news about trends in
consumer practices, and recreational activities, green elements in the show are
retained albeit to a much lesser extent. On March 17, 2014, the program features a
flower exhibition in a city in Jiangsu; a school that has started to hire young male
teachers for primary school children; a high-tech hands-free suitcase designed by
university students that can follow its owner around; an example of artificially
manufactured sunshine designed by architects of high-rise buildings in Sydney; and
a forecast predicting that Africa will be the biggest polluter in the world by 2030.
While some of these “news” items are clearly related to environmental protection
or at least have some green content, one is left wondering how the inclusion of
others—hiring young male teachers for primary school or designing a hands-
free suitcase—can be justified. More relevant to the discussion here is that while
marketing strategies aimed at product enhancement and product differentiation
may have been effective at increasing the ratings of programs, they seem to have
done less to promote and sustain a genuine green discourse. There is little evidence
to suggest that such advertising challenges consumers’ reluctance to change their
consumption habits for the sake of a greener environment. Nor is there much
evidence to suggest that the green (re)packaging of consumer advice programs
aims to guide consumers toward more environmentally conscious and responsible
consumption practices. What we have witnessed here instead are conscious efforts
to exploit the green concept and capitalize on existing green credentials. Much
akin to Toyota’s marketing campaign to promote its hybrid car, which “works to
obfuscate sustainability as an actionable agenda” (de Burgh-Woodman and King
2013, p. 163), these market strategies contribute mostly to the adverse effect of
“greenwashing” or what I call the “greying” of green discourse and in doing so,
diminish—rather than enable—the prospects of a vibrant greenspeak.
Conclusion
This discussion has unfolded in three disparate yet related contexts: the state
news media, lifestyle television programs, and the realm of consumer behavior
and the market. While we have witnessed the “growing politicization of life and
lifestyle practices” in the global North (Lewis and Potter 2011, p. 5), this has not
yet occurred in China, at least not on a large and sustainable scale. Instead, we
have seen the politicization of environmental news in the state news media, which
has led to unprecedented levels of control in the name of maintaining stability.
Environmental issues are now more subject to censorship and propaganda than
before. We therefore are confronted with a paradoxical scenario. On the one hand,
the public has become more conscious than ever of the environmental risk they
are living with. On the other hand, green activism and rigorous public debates
on environmental issues have much less space to maneuver than they did a