Challenge for DUers

[Tom Rinaldo]

Design a major National Ad Campaign on the theme of Global Warming, using both 30 and 60 second TV ads. What scenes, what graphs, what visuals in general would you use? What narration if any would you include? Any interviews, if so of who? What text scrolls, what music, if any? What voice overs,:celebrities, scientists, or average citizens?

This issue virtually disappeared during the 2016 election campaign. Not a single question was asked about it during the Presidential debates. Since then the U.S.has become the only member of the United Nations not backing the Paris Accord. Since then the world has again set new heat records. Since then we've had runaway forest fires, ice sheet collapses, record rainfalls, multiple massive hurricanes, and even a (downplayed) admission by an agency of the Trump administration that the vast bulk of climate change is almost certainly human caused.

Everyone knows that weather is changing, but it remains out of broad public discussion as a political issue. Meanwhile wind and solar energy prices continue to plummet but the Trump Administration wants to spend tax dollars to prop up the coal, oil, and nuclear industries while relaxing regulations that will lead to the release of more greenhouse gases.

There should be killer ads on the media driving home all of the above, but there aren't. The scripts should almost write themselves, but of course they can't. But we can. We have creative people in our midst. We have media professionals. If the money could be found to mount a massive ad campaign, what should it be? Because I think the money can be found if we all insist on an open public debate on this profoundly life altering issue. And I'm sure of one other thing - it will not play to Republicans advantage.

What's your ad, what's your unifying theme? What do you want to see being aired on every network?

[CrispyQ]

1. I'm going to cheat & post my favorite cartoon.

But I look forward to following your thread & reading others answers!

[FSogol]

2. Just redo the Iron Eyes Cody ad with seawater up to his waist.

[Hortensis]

3. My unifying theme would be losses for our children.

They say the best advertisements hit the gut, not the brain.

I like to garden so am painfully aware that my grandchildren will never know the seasons, flowers, critters, we grew up with as they become overwhelmed by erratic winters and longer, hotter, often drier summers.

I'd show that. I'd have grandma reading a book to children and answering "what's that?" questions about a cloud of butterflies and wildflowers in the pictures. I'd have dad explaining while on a walk that they didn't have to be afraid of the first frog they've ever seen and describe how he and his brother used to play real leapfrog with the frogs in their lawns.

If it's airing in the southwest, I'd have them viewing an old picture of a game on a lawn and dad explaining what a lawn was. "You've seen one -- remember when we went to the courthouse?"

They could ooh over old pictures of mommy making a snow angel in her front yard and ask if they can drive up to the mountains again to make one themselves.

And so on.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. Some very powerful and poignant images there

A lot more hard hitting than statistics about the degree of ocean rise anticipated by the end of the century. Me, those latter statistics always get to me, but I'm not typical.

[Hortensis]

10. They get to me, but that's only because we have an old

mobile home on the water, but not for many more years. I think most people are just glad to feel that that at least is "not" their problem. We actually almost joined them a couple months ago.

Many hours before she "arrived," Irma picked up most of the water from Tampa Bay, emptied it right out, and instead of hurling what must have been billions of tons of water back with a predicted 9' surge smashed somewhere else with it. One of the 5 biggest "negative surges" in history.

?

But I care infinitely more about what else we're not leaving our grandchildren, and what we will be. The beautiful forest around here has started its transition to the piney woods of south Georgia.

Lots of people will need to start budgeting for the costs of taking down dying trees, and some people should be able to make a nice living for the rest of their lives at that, albeit a somewhat dangerous one according to the last tree company we had up here. The wonderful row of sugar maples that protects our our neighbors' home from the afternoon sun is dying, and the extension agent reportedly told them the disease was likely brought on by weakness due to hotter summers and droughts.

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. Here's a theme for one ad

The line "I can't remember seeing anything like this before" and other variations on that comment being said by average citizens reflecting on actual extreme weather events in their own communities. Actual quotes, actual footage culled from local news reports. !00 degree plus weather in San Francisco. Four feet of rain in Houston. Puerto Rico towns leveled. Fires racing through Santa Rosa. Balmy weather in October in the North East. There are many more examples that people living in areas I am unfamiliar can cite I am sure.

[Hortensis]

5. Love it. Cut at one point, with pensive glance, to

someone's children at play, tying past and present to future. "What next!"

[CrispyQ]

8. Here's mine:

I've lived in CO all of my life & all of my life lilacs bloom in the spring, between March & May. Once a year. That's it. I think it was in 2005, a lilac bush I walk by every day, bloomed a second time in early October. I was stunned.

on edit: I haven't seen that since.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. Simple graphic for close of each ad:

Black screen with lettering:

Climate Change? That then morphs to:
Climate Changed.

[Smickey]

9. Maybe use a variant of...

the 70's (I think) ad with the big Native American man with tears rolling down his face. That ad still hits me in the gut.

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. One more, from a different angle

Opening shot reads:

"So you think only tree huggers care about climate change?"

"Better think again"

Follow that with retired high level military brass talking about how the Pentagon has identified climate change as one of the top, if not the top, security threats facing America in the world over the coming decades - and how they are actively developing plans for how the U.S. should prepare for the wide spread social unrest, mass migrations, and failed state political and security vacuums climate change will trigger.