Other agencies get behind Earth Hour

First, I'm staggered that there is still anyone out there who thinks Earth Hour is anything more than a total wank that achieves nothing. (The fact that business participation dropped hugely this year is a clue, as is the fact that the figures show no real affect - except to give mega wankers a chance to feel warm and fuzzy inside.)

Second, and perhaps more importantly considering this blog is supposed to be about communications...err...the tree hugger thing...like, did the people who did that stuff think it sent a positive message about earth hour? Didn't anyone at the agency realise that 'Tree Hugger" isn't a compliment? And associating Earth Hour with Tree Hugging just confirms what I said above, that it is an appeal to wankers, because that is what most of the population think a tree hugger is.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the cause, surely people doing this stuff shouldnt' be so out of touch that they create totally counter productive work like this!

Agree 100% with 11:47. Earth Hour is counter-productive. It gives individuals, corporations and governments an easy out. Anyone who actually believe this will make a difference to global warming is a fool. Earth Hour is exactly the type of stunt governments want people to be involved in - it makes a lot of noise, everyone gets to feel good, governments say it has their 100% support and will deliver a strong message the next time they're in Amsterdam, Copenhagen or wherever they have their next summit - then before we know just like Spring Carnival or Mardi Gras we soon forget it and we're back to our old ways preparing for that one hour next year when we get to feel gooey and warm again without actually doing anything. Earth Hour. If someone hadn't thought of it The Hollowmen would've eventually.

Earth Hour would have been far more effective if they'd turned the lights out at 8.30 at the Telstra Dome (sorry, Etihad Stadium) during the Swans v Saints AFL game.

Or any equivalent action at the myriad sporting events which are and were held under lights.

Would have been a far more effective demo than those other wanks.

Yes, Earth Hour is like something the spin doctors in The Hollowmen could have conceived.

Earth hour is a brilliant idea. It's raised awareness big time. And even if that's all it's done. That's huge. And a big part of our business.
And unlike you halfwits above, it's 'better than doing nothing'.

How is this an ad for SBS? it's a better ad for the agency's employees in the sense it's on this site and fellow industry pros can see it and be amazed at their cleverness. Clearly a scam and a symptom of what is wrong with advertising and why clients don't trust agencies.

Actually 10.45, it is a good deal worse than doing nothing.

If you actually believe in man-made global warming (even when temperatures haven't risen for a decade and most of the planet has just gone through the second ferocious winter in a row ), all Earth Hour does is let people off the hook.

They do their One Hour, and that's that.

It's like all those people who go to rock concerts to end poverty. Buy a ticket, party for a few hours, go home. Problem solved.

11.47 makes a good point.

It is simply this: it seems like most people in our industry are dumb.

Surely everyone knows that being called a "tree hugger" is meant to be an insult!

Yet there are people who are stupid enough to base a campaign around it?

Reminds me of a Suzuki campaign a few years ago: ' Four Wheel Jive". The creators of that gem (and the people who approved it) didn't seem to know that being "jived" by a car maker was not a good thing!

Being tree hugger was an insult 20 years ago. Being a tree hugger today is entirely positive. Unless you're in the logging, whaling or sealing industries.

You're a sad fool.

9.19, the sadness is how out of touch you and most of our industry is with real people - the market we're trying to communicate with.

Go out into the street, into the suburbs, and ask a few people outside your latte set about the term.

"Tree hugger" was, is and always will be a term of derision.

Isn't it time people came clean?

Earth Hour is supposed to raise awareness of global warming - as if it wasn't covered 24/7 in the media anyway.

Yet research shows that fewer and fewer people are doing anything at all about it. More significantly, fewer and fewer people believe it is really an issue.

And, of course, far fewer people took any notice of Earth Hour this year. Sure, it might have extended it's gimmickry to a few extra countries, but in the countries that have already had an Earth Hour, participation plummeted - just the figures on business participation in Australia are evidence enough of that.

So please, next year, can we just skip it.

Instead, maybe the ad industry could do something really positive and initiate a real debate about the subject: Is it happening. If so, is it bad for the planet. Is it man made or cyclical. Why have all the computer model predictions of temperature increases and ocean rises been wrong?

A real debate, with all sides discussed - now wouldn't that be a change!

What!?!?

Tree hugger is a positive, 9.19?

Not where I live.

And definitely not where Victoria's bushfires hit.

Look I'd love to debate this with you 10:22 but I need to head off to hang out with my recycling, green shopping bag buying, electric car driving, renewable energy using, organic food eating, animal cruelty free, biodegradable, bleach free toilet paper buying mates.

11:17 perhaps you should go to the website the debate you are talking about is part of the site. But I guess it's more fun shiting on the work and try and tear it down. Get the facts before you act all smug now wouldn't that be a change.

Whatever happened to punctuation?

I can barely make out what 10.42 is saying.

Tip: before writing anything, learn to write.

You'll find it makes your arguments more persuasive.