At first glance you’d probably think: “What does the advertising industry have anything to do with climate change and global warming?”
At least that’s what I first thought. The topic of climate change is becoming increasingly popular nowadays due to the “U.N. Climate Change Summit” taking place in Paris, France. The question is – is the advertising industry promoting the use of products that contribute to climate change?
Over 600 fake advertisements were installed all around Paris on Friday, November 27, by an organisation called “Brandalism”. This organisation aimed to protest, through fabricated advertisements, against consumerism, fossil fuel dependency and climate change.
Hypocrisy
The reason for installing these advertisements was to criticise the hypocritical acts of some of the companies involved in the U.N. Climate Change Summit. These companies include Air France and Dow Chemicals, among others, which are in fact major contributors to global warming.
Joe Elan from Brandalism in a statement said: “By sponsoring the climate talks, major polluters such as Air France and GDF-Suez-Engie can promote themselves as part of the solution – when actually they are part of the problem.”
The advertising industry holds a large share of the world market. It controls what pieces of information should be promoted to the world and what should not. Many of these advertising industries around the world form an alignment with their governments in order to extend profits.
This has resulted in suppression of numerous technologies that could make the world healthier for present and future generations. An example of an ecological invention that has been overlooked for over a hundred years is the electric car. The idea of the electric car was considered in the late 1800s by Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. The main reason why the idea hadn’t been funded at the time was because of Tesla’s rivalry with Thomas Edison and the bank of New York which was on Edison’s side. The bank declared bankruptcy upon Tesla in an effort to stop his research and suppress his invention of the electric car and many of his other inventions.
Money is the motivation
In the early 90’s, a few businessmen tried to bring up the idea of this environmentally friendly car. The idea wasn’t supported by the government due to the fact that the oil industry and car manufacturers promised a better revenue.
By using regular cars that run on petrol, we contribute to climate change every day simply because the advertising industry rarely advertises these eco-friendly alternatives that could help reduce and control global warming or climate change.I believe that the advertising industry has a major connection with climate change, however, we still have a chance to make the world a better place as long as we stop making money our main motivator.
The writer is a media student at University of Sharjah
The International Government Communication Forum (IGCF), held in Sharjah, is an annual forum that shares global best practices in fields of government communication and aims to build a platform for better communication between governments and their citizens. This column is a collaborative effort with Gulf News featuring work by UAE-based students as part of that initiative.
