Check out a great conversation we’re having about Denny’s Maple Bacon Sundae, and feel free to join us as we discuss where commerce and conscience collide and/or come together.

This year, Euronews has listed a dozen more examples in Marketing and the exploitation of 9/11 that are every bit as disturbing.  Here are the images:

The exploitation of 9/11 by marketers is disrespectful, irresponsible on every level. So, how do these images make you feel about the advertisers?

We’re proud to receive recognition as a King County’s Best Workplace for Recycling and Waste Reduction once again this year.

We are honored to join five other Issaquah businesses that were recognized for their sustainable efforts including  The City of Issaquah, The Issaquah School District, Timber Ridge at Talus, Rowley Properties, and Pogacha.

This marks the fifth year we have been honored with the award, making us one of nine other companies in King County on the “Honor Roll.”

That’s right, buy a jug of high fructose corn syrup-powered soda pop—one of the primary causes of diabetes and childhood obesity—and we’ll donate a dollar to juvenile diabetes research.

Our take: absolutely shameful and completely irresponsible. What’s yours?

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Correction: A commentor below has pointed out that the correlation made above is incorrect — that “TYPE 1 and is an autoimmune disease.  TYPE 2 is a metabolic disorder from too much crappy foods.”

So, to be more factually correct, the promotion helps fund research to stop one form of diabetes by having you engage in an activity that causes another.

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Read Joe Water’s Selfish Giving’s original post on this topic to learn more.

Osama Bin Laden was a bad man and the world’s a better place without him. And I’m just as patriotic as the next guy.  But mark my words, soon you’ll see ads with American eagles and the American flag popping up, just like after 9/11 as advertisers aimed to capitalize on American emotions.

With thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars invested, using this tact is lazy, tacky and patently offensive.  If your company really cares, don’t commercialize–donate a portion from each sale to a veteran’s organization or one of the many groups that have been impacted by terrorists here and abroad.

Given the shocking facts regarding the health risks, I’ve always thought cigarettes should be even more heavily regulated, if not banned outright here in the U.S.

Imagine my delight when I learned the FDA and Department of Health and Human Services are proposing graphic, somewhat gruesome, warning labels on all cigarettes.

Here they are:

With big tobacco’s long, storied history of blatant lies and deception, the only way these companies will ever market responsibly is if they are forced to do so.

Agree or disagree?

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But we simply couldn’t let this pass without saying something.

French newspaper Courrier International‘s tagline is “learn to anticipate.” Really, this is a decent tagline that has so many creative possibilities.

Then why exploit 9/11 and with such a lightweight and insensitive idea that if only the World Trade Center Towers were just a little shorter, things would have been a lot better?

This is socially irresponsible, ethically wrong and disrespectful in so many ways–especially as we approach the 9th anniversary of the attacks.

Courrier International, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You’ve made light of the loss of thousands of innocent lives in your half-assed attempt to be creative or edgy.

Welcome to the Responsible Marketing Hall of Shame.

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Each year, King County recognizes organizations that have made recycling and waste reduction a priority, so we’re honored to make the “Best Workplace for Recycling and Waste Reduction” list once again this year.

Instead of us telling you how, here’s an excerpt from the webpage listing this year’s recipients:

Outsource Marketing is a fourth-year Best Workplace that is building on past recycling and waste reduction efforts. In 2009, Outsource Marketing rebranded their business to better reflect its responsible approach to business and marketing. Most messaging is done electronically at Outsource. Instead of printing letterhead, notecards and envelopes that might go to waste, the new brand made it possible for it to print small, customized quantities in-house as needed. Old letterhead stationery was turned into notepads. A series of videos were also created to focus on recycling in the workplace.

Outsource Marketing’s printed collateral system consisting of a folder, mini-brochure and multiple insert sheets and cards was replaced by a customizable brochure that is printed and bound in-house using plain string. It has also been formatted so it looks great when delivered digitally. Outsource Marketing has increased its use of collaborative online tools, video conferencing, instant messaging and other technologies to increase waste-free communications. Each staff member has signed a “green pact,” promising to reduce, reuse and recycle where possible. In addition, Outsource Marketing continues to implement responsible, green marketing efforts for its clients.

Advice to others: “A project without a leader won’t get done. Appoint a ’green czar’ to lead initiatives and provide support to develop an empowered group. Take a look at marketing materials with an eye toward waste reduction. “

Would you like your organization to be a bit greener? Contact us and we’ll be happy to share a few tips with you.

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My gut says “never!” but my brain says “maybe.”

The fact is, trust requires both competence and character—two things BP lacks.

I know it’s early to ask, but if BP did the following things:

1. Successfully stopped the oil spill
2. Adequately cleaned up their mess
3. Proved they made their other rigs safe; and
4. Reinvested a large percentage of their profits into other renewable energy options

…would you be willing to give them a second chance?

I boycotted Exxon after the Valdez spill, so I’m on the fence on this one, folks. I’d have to see something pretty special from BP to get me to reconsider them.

How about you?

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From the The Wall Street Journal:

The White House is calling on food makers to curb marketing of unhealthy foods to children, part of a broad assault against childhood obesity.

The recommendation is part of a 120-page report released Tuesday that outlines steps to fight the national epidemic. One in every three children ages 2-19 is overweight or obese, the report says. First Lady Michelle Obama has taken up childhood obesity as her signature cause.

The recommendations are for the food and beverage industry, media and entertainment companies and food retailers. Recommendations from the report urge these parties to:

• Extend their self-regulatory program to cover all forms of marketing to children
• Avoid in-store marketing that promotes unhealthy products to children
• Limit the licensing of popular characters to food and beverage products that are healthy and consistent with science-based nutrition standards
• Adopt meaningful, uniform nutrition standards for marketing food and beverages to children
• Develop a uniform standard for what constitutes marketing to children
• Set uniform guidelines to ensure that a higher proportion of advertisements shown on their networks and platforms are for healthy foods and beverages
• Introduce an on-air labeling system that helps consumers easily distinguish between advertising for healthy and unhealthy foods
• Develop and deploy technology to block unhealthy food and beverage advertising

And if the above doesn’t work, the FCC will be called in to revisit and modernize children’s programming rules.

Click here to download the 120-page report[3.3 MB].

This is a step in the right direction, but is it enough? Self-regulation hasn’t worked well on Wall Street. Will this be enough to rein-in Madison Avenue?

I doubt it, but what do you think?

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Inspired by this tweet by Hank Wasiak.