Ski Resorts
Do Sustainable Slope Programs Matter to You?
The Vail Daily News has an article today on the Aspen Skiing Company’s new advertising campaign, which focuses on the environment and sustainable slopes. The ads run contrary to marketing advice it received a few years ago, when it was told by a firm that environmentally-friendly themes didn’t really resonate with consumers as marketing fodder. These days, however, times have apparently changed. As a result, Aspen’s new ads warn the public that if everyone doesn’t become environmentally aware, ski slopes and ski resorts will soon disappear.
The ads encourage people to visit www.savesnow.com, where visitors can learn why the environment is in jeopardy and what Aspen is doing about it.
While there’s no direct effort to sell lift tickets, Aspen is clearly trying a different (and very respectable, in my opintion) marketing route. I suppose it’s in their best interest to make sure there is snow to ride on in the future; after all, the alternative is likely to go out of business. But the article made me realize that larger resorts talk a fair bit about the environment and what they’re doing to help. I just don’t pay attention, nor do I base whether I will visit a resort on their environmental policies. I think I’ll start playing closer attention.
Discussion
One comment for “Do Sustainable Slope Programs Matter to You?”
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Adam,
Before you start worrying about the environment and the “possible” impact of Global Warming, why not worry about the very real and current issues of affordable housing and reasonable wages for employees. Aspen hired over 300 foreignors on H-2B visas last year alone because they pay such low wages that they cannot attract a US Workforce. So they outsource.
I know it would suck if we lost our sport in 50 years when the Earth MIGHT WARM based on Global Warming, but the reality is that Aspen is not doing a damned thing to help the here and now of their workers who make poverty wages and have to drive 50 miles each way to afford a place to live.
Their sustainable slopes efforts of using Wind Power are negated by the hundreds of employees that cannot live anywhere near their jobs because of housing costs and wages, and have to commute hundreds of miles a week to serve the food to rich city folks who dig the latest “earth friendly” ad campaign.
Imagine if the money spent on marketing and billboards was spent on building or subsidizing their employee’s housing and paying decent wages with benefits.
I had a series of articles at my site about housing and the fact that it is PC to be green, but no one pays attention to the folks that work at these resorts and what they make.
http://www.ski-blog.com/politics_rare/