France’s newly-launched generic wood promotion campaign has set out to conquer preconceived ideas about timber as its first task.
The €6m “Le bois, c’est essentiel” campaign, being run jointly by the Nordic Timber Council (NTC) and the National Committee for the Development of Wood (CNDB), is tackling the widely-held belief that forests are shrinking and wood resources are being depleted.
The message that wood consumption is good for forests and that forest growth totals 30,000ha in France every year is being sounded in the printed press, on the campaign website www.bois.com, and on television.
A survey commissioned by NTC and CNDB found 84% of French people questioned believe forests are shrinking worldwide, while 60% think they are reducing in size within Europe and 55% say French forests are shrinking.
NTC campaign manager Bettina Horsch said: “Although wood is becoming more popular and is very trendy, it still suffers from a number of misconceptions that limit its use.”
Annual French wood consumption is estimated at 0.18m3 per person, compared with 0.44m3 in the US and 1m3 in Finland.
