Sometimes it’s obvious what the better choice is. Eating a bowl of broccoli is certainly healthier than eating a bowl of ice cream.

But other times, it’s not as clear.

Take hybrid cars as an example.

They burn a lot less gas than conventional cars, meaning that they produce significantly fewer emissions on the road. So hybrid cars are obviously the greener choice, right?

Not so fast.

The process of manufacturing a hybrid vehicle is more energy-intensive than manufacturing a conventional vehicle. Much more.

And the process to generate this energy requires resources and produces emissions.

The latest data seems to indicate that the increased upfront environmental impact is offset by the decrease in emissions over the life of the vehicle, but only if the hybrid vehicle is driven long enough. The latest data I’ve seen shows that it takes well over 100k miles before this happens.

The takeaway isn’t that we should or shouldn’t drive hybrid or electric vehicles (that’s a much more complex discussion with more variables than what I’ve presented here) but rather that the important issues are typically more complicated than we might realize, and that we should think critically about our choices.

The job of marketers is to sway to sway public opinion one way or the other, particularly when significant financial consequences are involved. Meaning that it’s rarely good enough to simply read headlines or listen to a 30-second blurb on the news if we want to make informed decisions.

-Brandon