INDEX: Earth Day Display Merchandising Fixtures

INDEX:
Earth Day Display
Merchandising Fixtures

Earth Day Display Merchandising Fixtures

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SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS AND LINKS…
…to Earth Day Display Merchandising Fixtures

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This Earth Day Display Merchandising Fixtures index page aggregates links
to all post and photos of retail merchandising, display, and outfitting
as well as deep Background courtesy of Wikipedia.

BACKSTORY: Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network)^[1] including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.^[2]^[1]^[3]

In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnellproposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of springin the northern hemisphere. This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thantat the United Nations. A month later, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day”. Denis and his staff grew the event beyond the original idea for a teach-in to include the entire United States. Key non-environmentally focused partners played major roles. Under the leadership of labor leader Walter Reuther, for example, the United Auto Workers (UAW) was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day.^[4]^[5]^[6] According to Hayes: “Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!”^[7] Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work.^[8]^[9] The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.^[10]^[11]^[12]On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and 120 other countries. This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Numerous communities engaged in Earth Day Week actions, an entire week of activities focused on the environmental issues that the world faces.^[13]On Earth Day 2020, over 100 million people around the world observed the 50th anniversary in what is being referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.^[3]

The solution to the first problem came from an unexpected direction. Shortly after the turn of the year, Julien Koenig stopped by the national offices and volunteered to help. Koenig was a Madison Avenue giant. His campaign for Volkswagen, “Think Small,” was later cited by Advertising Age as the “greatest advertising campaign of the 20th century.”^[27]

Over coffee, Hayes confided that the “teach-in” moniker was not working and asked whether Koenig had any ideas. Koenig asked for a few days. A week later, he returned with an assortment of mock-ups for ads, laid out around the announcement of “Ecology Day,” “Environment Day,” “Earth Day,” and “E Day.” Koenig said that his personal favorite was Earth Day – in part because April 22 happened to be his birthday, and “birthday” rhymes with “Earth Day.”^[28] Hayes immediately agreed. Koenig offered to prepare a fully refined ad. Hayes insisted that it include a small coupon soliciting funds for the threadbare operation. Koenig’s ad was visually arresting, and perfectly summed up the issues and values, the feisty-but-welcoming tone that the campaign had adopted. Hayes loved it and decided to bet the farm. He committed about half of all the money in the campaign’s bank account to buy a full page in the Sunday New York Times opinion section.^[29]

The ad was a huge success. Overnight, “Earth Day” became the almost-universally-used name for the upcoming event. The ad generated more than enough revenue to repay its cost, and thousands of potential organizers sent in their names and addresses along with their checks. In future months, magazines and alternative newspapers ran the ad for free, generating still more names and more financial support. The national office started using Environmental Action, rather than Environmental Teach-in, on its letterhead and publications to promote Earth Day.^[30]

At this point, Hayes made a far-reaching decision. In those early days, it would have been easy to obtain trademark protection for Earth Day and force compliance with a set of standards by anyone using it. Hayes decided, however, that he wanted the name to be broadly used by anyone who planned to focus on environmental issues that spring.^[31]

Although “Earth Day” swiftly replaced Environmental Teach-in, the second problem proved more complicated. College activists, for the most part, viewed anything other than ending the war as a distraction. A majority of the Earth Day staff had cut their teeth as organizers against the war and saw no conflict. The war appeared to be winding down, and they felt it was prudent to start paying attention to the far more profound changes needed to produce a healthy, sustainable America. But time was short, and college activists were not responding.^{[citation needed]}

Hayes spent a day reviewing the letters Senator Nelson had received, and discovered that very few were from college students. Most were from women who appeared to be college-educated homemakers who wanted to do something to improve the world for their children. Another large share was from K–12 teachers.^{[citation needed]}

Hayes decided to shift the campaign’s focus from colleges and universities to community organizing. Building off the successful strategies of the anti-war movement and the civil rights movement, he decided to promote large urban rallies, focused on major environmental issues, while also encouraging environmental education at the K–12 level.^{[citation needed]}

Bryce Hamilton, who had been Midwest coordinator, was shifted to K–12 coordinator, and it proved to be a great choice.^[32] Hamilton reached out to the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and the National Science Teachers Association to enlist their members; he provided materials to thousands of educators who wrote to the group directly; and he distributed the most creative ideas he received from anyone to everyone else. In April, more than 10,000 primary and secondary schools engaged in Earth Day activities, mostly education and service actions like beach clean-ups, tree planting, and recycling.^{[citation needed]}

Walt Kelly created an anti-pollution poster featuring his comic strip character Pogo with the quotation “We have met the enemy and he is us” to promote the 1970 Earth Day. Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action to change human behavior and provoke policy changes.^[33]

On the first Earth Day an estimated 20 million Americans took part in rallies, marches, and teach-ins calling for environmental reform.^[34]^[35] Earth Day is now observed in 192 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network). According to Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day 1970 organizer and current Board Chair Emeritus of Earthday.org, Earth Day is now “the largest secular day of protest in the world, and more than a billion people participate in Earth Day actions every year.”^[36]

By far the largest source of funding for the first Earth Day was organized labor. Walter Reuther had led the United Auto Workers (UAW) since 1946, and he was a progressive supporter of civil rights, opposed the war, and championed the environment. He was a founding member of the Coalition for Clean Air, which successfully lobbied for the Clean Air Act of 1970. Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, made the first donation to support the first Earth Day in the amount of $2,000 (equivalent to $15,692 in 2023).^[37] Under his leadership, the UAW also funded telephone capabilities so that the organizers could communicate and coordinate with each other from all across the United States.^[5] The UAW also financed, printed, and mailed all of the literature and other materials for the first Earth Day and mobilized its members to participate in the public demonstrations across the country. According to Denis Hayes, “The UAW was by far the largest contributor to the first Earth Day” and “Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!” Hayes further said, “Walter’s presence at our first press conference utterly changed the dynamics of the coverage—we had instant credibility.”^[38]

At a meeting of the Environmental Teach-In board of directors, the finance committee chair arrived with a check for $20,000 (equivalent to $156,915 in 2023) from Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil). That would have provided an effective measure of financial relief for the financially strapped group. But Hayes declined the check, convincing the board that it would destroy the credibility of the nascent organization. He said that he would be delighted to accept money from clean sources, but no other corporate money was ever raised for the national organization.^{[citation needed]}

Individual donations were a significant source of funding, generally accompanied by a contribution slip from the Earth Day Ad providing the donor’s name and address. Larry Rockefeller persuaded Robert Rauschenberg to create and donate a batch of Earth Day lithographs, but the Earth Day staff lacked contacts in the art world who were able to sell them for their $2,000 market value, so they were provided to donors for much less.^{[citation needed]}

The sale of standard posters and especially pins brought in additional revenue. The staff refused to sell bumper strips because they would be attached to cars. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

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