Smug Alert II

Some may remember a recent post I had on "smugness" (thanks to South Park) in environmental sensibilities: how much do people do because they really care about the reality of environmental issues, and how much do they simply want to be seen as being "green"? While on a recent trip, I was looking at an article in USA Today. The topic that caught my eye was why Honda hybrid cars were not selling as briskly as Toyota hybird cars. One conjecture from the newspaper article: Honda hybrids look too much like their non-hybrid counterparts. I guess if you are going to bear all of those up-front costs in buying a hybrid, you definitely want to make sure your friends and neighbors know that you're driving one. (This, of course, doesn't address the fact that some studies show that hybrids, on a "dust-to-dust" basis, are not all that environmentally friendly). If you think this way because you want to give credibility to hybrid cars, that's one thing. If you think this way because you want to be smug about your commitment to the environment, that's another. In any event, Honda will be adding an additional hybrid intentionally designed to look different from its regular fleet. Perhaps I can volunteer an idea to Honda's next advertising campaign: "The New Hybrid: Because You've Already Received Your Reward in Full*" (*see Matthew 6:5).