<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/anti-renewable-billboard-ad-pulled-under-pressure-from-industry/>
"A blatantly false anti-renewable advertisement funded by the right wing ginger
group Advance has been pulled from a billboard near Newcastle, but
environmental activists are calling for tighter rules governing “out of home”
advertising in Australia.
The advertisement that was removed, titled “Renewables cost the earth” and
including the words “dollars and destruction” had attracted attention from
advertising industry executives and activist groups in a series of LinkedIn
posts, prompting the billboard owner oOH!Media to announce that it was being
removed.
Mike Spirkovski, a former chief creative officer with Saatchi and Saatchi
Australian and now head of Rethink Everything, says he was shocked and “taken
aback” by the advertising, particularly given its location on a cleared
construction site, and in the heart of the coal industry.
“This billboard, which criticises the environmental impact of renewables,
stands in the middle of a massive construction site spanning floodplains and
farmlands in Tarro, NSW, near the old Oak factory at Hexham,” he wrote on
LinkedIn.
“This is part of the M1 freeway extension, a project that has required
extensive land clearing. The irony is hard to miss.
“Adding to that irony, this site is not far from the Hunter Valley, one of
NSW’s major coal mining regions. Large-scale open-cut coal mining in places
like Singleton, Muswellbrook, and the Upper Hunter has significantly impacted
farmland and local ecosystems.”
His post drew support from a number of other activists and professionals, and
directed their astonishment at the Out of Home media company oOH.
“My question to oOH is ‘why are you accepting this’?” wrote james Greet, the
co-founder of the Payback Project.
”As a founding member of Ad Net Zero you’ll know that reducing emissions
through cleaner energy usage is an essential pillar of climate action, and
renewables are central to this.
“The mandatory reporting you’ve undertaken tells you exactly the threats to
your own business of a planet that goes beyond +1.5c. So why would you be party
to this misinformation?”
Within a few hours it prompted this response from oOH.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. oOh!media provides an open
advertising platform that upholds free speech and complies with content
standards and regulations set out by advertising guidelines.
While we have robust procedures in place to review sensitive advertising
content, following an additional internal review and given our business’
strong commitment to sustainability and reducing our operational impact on
the planet, oOh! has now removed this advertisement.”
Advance – formerly known as Advance Australia – was created in 2018 and attacks
net zero policies, the climate “hoax” and other left wing causes. It is accused
of having strong links to the Liberal Party and is suspected of sourcing much
of its funding from the fossil fuel industry."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
