Normally, I don’t like to offer my approval of some of the more extreme tactics taken by Greenpeace when it comes to environmental activism.  I generally think that they reinforce the stereotype of environmentalists as chain-myself-to-a-tree extremists, which isn’t always the most productive way to go about things.  However, this week, I’m going to have to hand it to them.  The notorious group executed an online campaign that rapidly went viral, proving their ability to execute a well-coordinated hoax with sufficient finesse to convince large groups that the campaign was serious, and just enough humor to get the attention of the rest of us.

In a parody of Shell’s ubiquitous “Let’s Go” campaign, the group launched the Arctic Ready website which hosted a fake photo-captioning contest supposedly by internet users.  The photos that they ultimately came up with were sarcastic and took a backhanded stab at Shell’s imminent plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean, with headlines such as “you can’t run your SUV on cute.” Making it even better for those watching online, attempts by Shell to control the ads were badly bungled. Expanding into social media, Greenpeace used a false Twitter account alongside their website to fuel ...

Link to original article / Continue Reading...

Spinach In Our Teeth is an independent Blog, covering a wide range of environmental issues.