Friday was Read Across America Day. I spent it following Lake County Historian Ruby Glebe at Terrace Middle School in Lakeport.
Read Across America Day was first conceived in 1997 by the National Education Association and first held the following year.
The reading initiative is always held on March 2 to honor Dr. Seuss”s birthday. As such, many of Seuss”s most famous works are read aloud to schoolchildren during the day.
As I followed Glebe around from classroom to classroom, I listened intently to Seuss”s words as I snapped photos of Glebe reading to the children. It had been many years since I had heard or read any of Seuss”s works. I found myself smiling at his wordplay, how it danced in rhythm and kept its silly tone through all those nonsensical Seuss names and terms.
As I moved around the classrooms taking pictures, I observed many small posters advertising the latest movie adaptation of one of Seuss”s works: “The Lorax.”
“The Lorax” is arguably one of Seuss”s best-known books for its environmental theme. The book was written in 1971, just one year after the first Earth Day was held. It paints a destructive view of logging, with the titular character the Lorax speaking on behalf of the trees.
Of course, that was Seuss”s Lorax. Universal Pictures” Lorax speaks for Mazda SUVs, IHOP pancakes and more than 70 other commercial products. Sigh.
I get it. This is the world we live in, a corporate world with the names of corporations stuck onto the names of sports stadiums, 30-second ads in front of five-second long YouTube clips and banner ads everywhere.
Seriously, I get it. Things cost money and people need to make money. While the over-advertising in America is something that annoys me, I can usually ignore it and go about my life.
But damn it, don”t we have to draw the line somewhere?
I mean, Mazda is using the Lorax as a spokesman for a crossover SUV, the CX-5, which at the most gets 35 miles to the gallon for fuel economy with a manual transmission.
While that is a much larger fuel economy number than other SUVs, the car”s engine is still powered by gasoline and still emits carbon dioxide into the air, which has begun to change the Earth”s climate.
In an even greater fit of hypocrisy by Universal”s Lorax, the orange-colored creature”s mustachioed-face, along with a few other characters, has been plastered on the side of disposable diapers by 7th Generation. These diapers clog our landfills and take hundreds of years to break down.
While much of humanity has made strides in being more environmentally-friendly and conscious, these advertisers seemingly find no problem in using a character who stands up for the environment to sell products that pollute. And, of course, it is a character created by a man beloved by children and adults who grew up reading his stories.
Some like to throw the word “indoctrination” around when referring to both versions of “The Lorax” because of its environmental message.
I would say the use of the Lorax to sell products that can damage the environment is indoctrination by our corporatized culture.
We”re teaching children the wrong message. And unless we change it soon, well, to quote Seuss”s Lorax, “unless someone like you care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It”s not.”
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
