Do Shock Tactics Work? Children Get Blown Up In Climate Ad

If you don’t get involved with a worldwide effort to curb carbon emissions, what are the consequences? According to acclaimed director Richard Curtis, you’ll get blown to smithereens.

As part of an activist video, Curtis—who has previously helmed such hits as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill—depicts a series of people getting blown up, their bloody bits strewn about, when they announce they don’t want to cut their carbon footprint as a part of the global 10:10 campaign, a group that urges people, businesses and institutions to promise 10 percent annual emissions reductions.

Not surprisingly, the gruesome video elicited plenty of jeers after it was released, from pro-environment charities that backed the campaign to climate skeptics who felt personally attacked and everyone in between. The response was so negative, the video has since been taken down from the campaign website, and the group has issued an apology.

Read one angry comment to the Guardian: "To suggest that people who disagree with you deserve to die is incredibly stupid. Imagine if some Christian group in the US did that to gays, Muslims or anyone else they disagree with. The outrage would be palpable. And deserved."

My take: It is pretty stupid.

Sure, the video is somewhat clever (it ends with the tagline “Cut your carbon by 10 percent. No pressure), but the whole point of 10:10 is to convince people to take positive action on behalf of our ecosystem. This includes those who are skeptical about doing so, whether because they’re not all that into the environment, or because they are, but aren’t sure if this particular campaign is worth their focus. Taking such a gory and, yes, hateful approach to this segment of the population will inevitably push these progressive climate ideas away, rather than bring them into the fold where we need them.

Plus, the video lacks some basic tact: In addition to showing X-Files star Gillian Anderson and former footballer David Ginola getting the explosion treatment, the video also depicts schoolchildren being blown to bits. As Change.org blogger Zachary Shahan wrote on PlanetSave, “Whoa, they thought that was a good idea?”

That said, the video may have recruited some people to the campaign simply by being so newsworthy.  The reality is, more people are inclined to click on a link that says “Acclaimed director makes video with exploding schoolchildren” than “Do your part: cut carbon emissions.” Those clicks may have led some people who otherwise wouldn’t have known about 10:10 to get the memo. But again, the nature of the video may well have turned them off from actually getting involved.

That’s a shame, because 10:10 is an incredibly worthy cause. Thousands of people from 41 countries have already joined the effort. You can start by participating in a campaign they are helping coordinate: This Sunday, 10/10/10, people from 176 nations around the world will celebrate positive climate solutions. Those interested can start by reading Change.org’s guide to action and take this pledge to participate. Taking part in the initiative is the right thing to do. But we promise not to blow you up if you don’t.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/EpicFireworks

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