Green Police

You are still using plastic bag to load your groceries? If you do, you better look around before you ask the cashier for one because the Audi Green Police may not be too far behind. *smile*

Who exactly are these fearful Audi Green Police? They are a fictional Green Police unit created by Audi, the German manufacturer of exquisite automobiles. The Audi Green Police, as described in their website, are “caricatures of today’s “green movement” and “a humorous group of individuals that have joined forces in an effort to collectively help guide consumers to make the right decision when it comes to the environment”. The Audi Green Police are here to facilitate our decisions-making, helping us to make a smarter and well-informed decision. As Audi says, “They’re not here to judge, merely to guide these decisions.”

Nevertheless, their Green Police commercial which made their television debut during the 4th quarter of the Big Game on 7th February, received different reaction from the viewers. Some find it amusing while others find it offensive. Either way, the ad is definitely memorable. In it ordinary citizens are arrested for using plastic instead of paper, throwing away batteries, not composting orange rinds, possessing incandescent light bulbs and setting their hot tub thermostat too high. That’s how serious those Green Police are.

Now, are there real Green Police in real life? Yes, there are. Numerous of them. In Israel, the main arm of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in the area of enforcement and deterrence is called “Green Police”. New York has officers within the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation that are affectionately called the “Green Police”. The “Green Police” is what Vietnam Environmental Police Department is popularly known as. And in the UK, they have a group who dresses in green as part of the Environment Agency’s squad to monitor excessive CO2 emissions.