Al Gore’s Create-an-Ad Contest
To Help Earth, There Needs To Be A Strong Message That Inspires Everyone
Saving the planet is hard work, Al Gore says, and somebody has to sell the idea. As a follow-up to last weekend’s Live Earth concerts he helped promote, Mr. Gore is sponsoring a competition to create a series of television and Internet ads to raise awareness on the issue of climate change. Gore said he hoped to use a sophisticated and well-financed advertising campaign to motivate people in the United States and around the globe to demand immediate action on the greenhouse gases that scientists say are cooking the planet. The best way to reach public hearts and minds, the former vice president said, is through the time-tested medium of advertising.
Mr. Gore, through his environmental group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, has sent invitations to advertising agencies to submit 15-, 30- and 60-second “ecospots” explaining the global warming phenomenon and urging action to address it, at either the local or national level. The alliance is soliciting entries from anyone with a camera or video-editing capabilities. Submissions are due by Sept. 12, and the spots will be judged by a panel of activists, scientists and celebrities like Cameron Diaz and George Clooney. Here’s a great example.
