Last evening, my better 95+% was flipping through the channels and received the rare: stop, go back to that. What was that? A Nissan "innovation" advertisement in which the Nissan Leaf played a prominent roll, "if you never needed to buy another gallon of gas ..."
Watching this well-done advertisement made me think of Who Killed The Electric Car? and how GM used black-and-white anti-promoting advertising in relation to the EV-1 (See after the fold for examples.)
While the above ad captured me, within the diary is an ad that truly matters on multiple levels.
Nissan is aggressively marketing the Leaf, offering it as a sexy product which will, as well, help address the world's challenges. And, it is doing so in catchy innovative ways. For example, there is Lance Armstrong with the Behind message to let people know that the Leaf, for the first time in his cycling career, offers the potential for biking without car exhaust in his face.
Perhaps the most aggressive, thinking of the political culture of the United States, is this strong (unstated) statement that electrification of transport is part of the path toward mitigation of (that non-existent problem of) climate change.
WATCH THIS AD
This, however, is the most meaningful advertisement in that, here, Nissan quite explicitly embraces the reality of climate change with the implication that we must -- and can -- act to mitigate climate change impacts.
This Nissan advertisement stands in sharp contrast to what we've seen from many other car companies, such as Toyota's support of climate deniers via the Lexus Darker Side of Green "debate" series.
As per Joe Romm,
As an advertisement for a product aimed at a specific demographic, I think it is quite clever. I’d give it an A.
And maybe I should add a "+" for the fact Nissan ran this on Thursday’s National Football League opener, which featured the New Orleans Saints, the closest thing we have to America’s team thanks to Hurricane Katrina. Coincidence? I think not.
Romm's post is highly recommended with many good points and a good deal of links within it to see how this advertising has been embraced by the climate science world, demeaned by Climate Peacocks, and created outrage among Anti-Science SyndromE Sufferers. Let me echo Romm in emphasizing the importance of a major Corporation embracing an iconic image re climate change science and using that in a prominent venue (the first NFL game of the year).
A tip of the hat to Nissan and their advertising company for putting out a scientifically sound advertisement (okay, no, don't try to hug a polar bear) in promoting a real step forward with a product that could truly help climate mitigation solutions move ahead.
EV-1 Advertisement Examples
Ben Popken put it well,
You don't have to have a PhD psychology to figure out that they were trying to scare consumers away from buying electric cars.
PS: Any other examples of advertising which is supportive of climate science? Diesel Jeans also did a global warming focused ad campaign but, in that case, their product had nothing to do with Global Warming. And, well, those ads made climate change seem pretty sexy.