I'll make you famous (or Adidas will)

I dont think he meant that at all. Reading back over it again, and his response, it seems to me he is saying that people buy ethical products out of desire to lord it over those who dont.

nope, i meant people buy it gives them a self satisfied feeling of knowing somehow there better, IE smugm, in the same way people buy expensive things as it makes them feel better then you.

Thats purely a perception on your part - its absolutely impossible to judge that from internet postings, you have no idea of the tone, intonation, paralanguage etc of my comments. I'm not really sure how one could convey smugness over the internet...

I'm not sharing your faith in graphic designers as the saviours of humankind two generations from now.

this is true, but to me it read as smugness, hence why i said it, its the same reason why you assumed i read the daily mail,

and i didn't specify graphic designers, i said designers, witch is a catch all term for all the people in the process's of bring a product to the market, be it product design, car design, people who work in the development of better plastics etc, packaging, things like that, My point being that if a product is designed properly then its better, if 100% of it can be reused and recycled its better and its the current crop of new 'designers' who will bring that through gradually.