As the late, great Les Dawson might have begun, take my mother-in-law. She’s a smart person (in fact, in case she gets hold of a copy of this, one of the smartest mothers-in-law around).
However, this Christmas she demonstrated that she shares that classic misapprehension about trees and forestry. Complaining about the Yuletide junkmail clogging her letterbox, she said ‘there goes another chunk of rainforest’. I explained that trees used for paper and timber are largely a crop, that more are being planted than felled and that most haven’t been within a sniff of a rainforest. But, even with the sherry and liebfraumilch out of the equation, I’m not sure I’d have got through. The view that trees are a scarce resource and we should curb our use of them is still ingrained in a large swathe of the population. Which is why it’s so important that the Wood for Good TV advert – which focuses both on timber’s technical merits and renewability – makes an impact.
The commercial has clearly not been made on a shoestring. Sir Derek I Claudius Jacobi supplies the voice-over and the ‘freeze frame’ filming technique came courtesy of the American firm responsible for the special effects in The Matrix.
Some may ask whether the timber trade should be up there on the silver screen touting its wares alongside supermarkets and soap powder producers. But it really has no choice. Consumers are being bombarded daily with myriad marketing, sales and ‘infomercial’ messages. Timber’s must be heard too. And you cannot communicate via the mass media on the cheap. If your commercial doesn’t cut the mustard alongside those of Mercedes or Miller Lite, your money evaporates in the ether.
Personally I think the advert works, although there’s someone else I might send the video to for a second opinion…
