Here is an interesting story out of the United Kingdom. Hewlett Packard (HP) recently ran a newspaper advertisement in a U.K. newspaper. The ad compared used printer cartridges to used food. The text from the ad read:

“NO-ONE WOULD DREAM OF SELLING USED FOOD. SO WHY DO THEY SELL USED PRINT CARTRIDGES?”

Can the same argument then be made for the cups you get your Starbucks coffee in? How about paper we write on? What about the playground surfaces kids play on? Yes, recycled products are made from used products – that’s the point! This is also an interesting perspective as HP employs a very expansive empty cartridge collection program (called HP Planet Partners) that is aimed at responsibly recycling unwanted hardware or empty HP printing supplies. If HP sees selling recycled cartridges as equal to selling used food, what are they doing with all the printer cartridges they collect, and why are they spending so much money (they pay all shipping costs associated with collections) to collect these things? If Hewlett Packard, or any company for that matter, makes a product that can be recycled and reused shouldn’t we take advantage of that opportunity?

I commend HP for their recycling efforts, but am somewhat confused by the obvious contradiction this advertisement creates.

We haven’t been able to track down a copy of the ad yet, so if anyone out there can find it please let us know. We’d like to see what kind of chewed and spit out food they used. Can you imagine someone at their advertising agency chewing up some food and then spitting it out for the photo shoot?

Something to think about. Let me know what you think.

UPDATE: 3/16/07
For those with interest we were able to finally find out what kind of imagery this ad contained. It showed a half eaten apple, a peeled banana, and a carton of egg shells. After seeing this the United Kingdom Remanufacturers Association (UKRA) filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority. There has been no official decision as of yet. More to come . . .