Ad council does global warming scare ads by killing kids - we've seen that before

"Think of the children! Won't somebody think of the children!"

The Ad Council has just come out with a campaign they trot out the old "think of the children" idea.
"Train" - Global Warming TV Ad - Environmental Defense (2006)


What a tired old idea. Remember the Daisy girl?
Johnson Peace / Little Daisy Girl

Yes, we've seen it before but that isn't why I don't find these ads particularly effective. Pre-kids life, I knew about recycling and energy conservation and lazily did my part with touch of electricity saving bulbs here, some can recycling there and only investing in gear that used rechargable batteries (this only because the old battery-trash cans suddenly vanished from the city I lived in in the late eighties). I wasn't consistent and kinda half-assed. Post-kid I'm a total Nazi about my carbon footprint. In other words, I think you're speaking to the wrong target, people with kids are the ones who care about kids, and they're probably already doing what you ask 24/7 - that is, think of the children.

Oh yeah, here's another one doing the classic cut between people countdown editing thing. Where I have seen that recently?

Global Warming Environmental Defense - "tick" - (2006) :30 (USA)

Ah yes, in the "make poverty history" every three seconds finger snapping ad.

Make Poverty History Canada - Click - (2006) :30 (Canada)

Kudos, ad council, for showing us how it's done by recycling even your ad ideas. I think I'll go recycle all my empty cans of Jolt right now.

Adland® is supported by your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi coffee.
Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
comment_node_story
Files must be less than 1 MB.
Allowed file types: jpg jpeg gif png wav avi mpeg mpg mov rm flv wmv 3gp mp4 m4v.
kidsleepy's picture

ha ha ha ha ha ha. i love it. maybe they can campaign it out using the other formulas:

1. what are you going to do with all your old global warming ads now that (fill in the product) has rendered them obsolete?

2. imagine a world without global warming.

3. don't you wish everything was made like global warming?

Neo's picture

Busted!

I suggest: For all your global warming needs.

alex's picture

They've obviously not been listening to James Lovelock. He reckons it's too late.

RLDavies's picture

Bono stepped out on stage in one of the "Make Poverty History" shows in Ireland, snapping his fingers as in the ad. He said solemnly, "Every time I click my fingers, a child in the Third World dies." Whereupon someone in the audience shouted, "Stop doing it then, ya bastard!"

True story.

James Trickery's picture

Hahahahaha.

Ron L.'s picture

This is interesting, are there no other tactics for PSA's other than copying what has already been done?