On climate change, the medium is Gore's pointed message



This was published 14 years ago

On climate change, the medium is Gore's pointed message

By Paul McIntyre

AL GORE only got it half right when he arrived in Cannes last Friday to softly spank the global advertising industry for being naughty and then ask it for help in creating a global consumer movement for climate change.

Ad agencies are reasonably resourced to slow down any progress that might be made in convincing the public about individual action that Gore so badly wants to occur, but there's a far nastier and more subversively influential group of communications companies which the former US vice-president could really go to town on: the public relations and government lobbying industries.

His arguments aimed at the advertising industry could easily have slotted into a warning to the PR sector. "The capacity for dishonesty and deception [and] the self-interested motives have led some of the largest carbon polluters to continue to spend considerable sums every year to consciously disseminate into the public thinking false information, much the same as the tobacco companies did," he told more than 2000 delegates at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

"For 40 years they tried to convince people there was no consensus [on the health risks of smoking] and millions of people died unnecessarily as a result," he said.

While Gore was specifically addressing the advertising industry, PR and lobbying firms should be taking note. Most of them, ironically, are owned by the same holding companies that control the world's biggest advertising networks and media buying agencies. Plus, the PR-type outfits have almost certainly done more than any other communication sector to confuse the climate change message.


However, because of Gore's links to a few ad industry figures - including the Australian expat and global boss of Y&R, Hamish McLennan - he's hoping the industry can shift public opinion on a global scale. The Live Earth music concerts, which kick off in Sydney on July 7, are Gore's rallying point. "[They] will mark not only a fantastic entertainment event worldwide, but also the beginning of a three-year campaign to deliver increased awareness of the crisis and, more importantly, to deliver the practical message about how individuals all over the world can help be part of the solution.

"This is the rare challenge that actually requires a sea change in public opinion before political leaders are likely to have the courage to make the rather sweeping changes in policy and laws that will be required.

"I would urge you to advise all of your clients that companies that are still part of an effort to intentionally confuse people about what the truth is of the climate-change crisis are running a severe risk of seriously damaging their brands.

"The advertising industry, one that in the past has sometimes been pointed to as crass and exploitative and focused on ends over means, can make the crucial difference."

Maybe. Adland may well be able to contribute to delivering the message, but it would certainly make more progress if the PR and lobbying divisions of these massive marketing services groups like Omnicom, WPP, Publicis and Interpublic heeded the same advice.

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