Clean Coal Is A Mythical Creature
Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection · CP+B · 2008 · Role: Senior Art Director
A few weeks in, the energy lobby called and asked if we’d take the campaign down.
How do you take on a $35–45 million ad budget with a tiny fraction of it?
In 2008 alone, the coal industry spent $35 to 45 million on advertising, much of it selling Washington on “clean coal.” One problem: the technology didn’t exist, and wasn’t going to. It was a marketing play to drag energy policy backwards while dressed up as progress.
We had a tiny fraction of their budget. So we went where the decision-makers went every morning: the subway.
The idea
During Barack Obama’s inauguration week, we took over Metro Center station in central Washington, DC. Then we asked other things that don’t exist to back clean coal. Sasquatch, an alien and a mermaid all gave it their enthusiastic support across print and outdoor. If you believe in one, you might as well believe in the rest.
We were massively outspent. But when the other side asks you to stop, you know it’s working.
What I did
Helped develop the creative concept.
Designed the campaign logo and the dead canary icon, and set the visual direction.
Art directed the full takeover of Metro Center station.
Sasquatch, a mermaid and an alien walk into a subway station. The coal lobby walks out.
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