A Convenient Spoof: The Toutsmith Controversy
Global warming has become a major political issue this year, with record summer temperatures, and powerful tropical storms which ravaged parts of the South. More recently even, psycho Fundamentalist Pat Robertson has broken with the Conservative ranks and is saying Global Warming is real and the United States must accept what it is causing and work for change.
On the right we have Pat Robertson, and on the left we have Al Gore's devastating An Inconvenient Truth, which has turned more than many prominent heads. All along the spectrum we have near-consensus in the Scientific community about the existence and the effects of Global Warming. The existence global warming one of the most widely shared beliefs among scientists despite what Republican cronies will try and tell you - it is an established fact.
So what's the corporate lobbyist to do? Simple: harness the power of the internet, specifically it's 'viral' nature with regards to new things, in a desperate attempt to sway young impressionable minds. They created a fictitious YouTube user and released a 'home made' by an everyday guy movie spoofing Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and try and argue that Global Warming not only is a load of bullocks. They then hired got conservative bloggers to post links to the movie and registered accounts at many forums around the internet encouraging users to 'check out' the video, and thus getting more hits (and hopefully converts).
Unfortunately, the internet isn't a completely anonymous place. It wasn't long before the video became one of the most viewed videos on YouTube, but as the number of viewers increased so did number of skeptics. It wasn't long before the account's email was routed back to the DCI Group in Washington. A lobbying firm who works for Exxon Mobil Corporation. If things couldn't get worse for DCI, The Wall Street Journal and much of the mainstream (and International) press has begun critical coverage of the cheap publicity stunt.
By the actions of Exxon Mobil and their Lobbyist, it has become clear that they have become apprehensive of popular opinion; how it's beginning to sway on both extremes and wont be long before both sides meet each other in middle America. The Big Oil companies are scared, and they have every reason to be, and with a big PR blunder like this, getting covered in the mainstream press no less, it just serves to remind people of how insidious greed can become.
On the right we have Pat Robertson, and on the left we have Al Gore's devastating An Inconvenient Truth, which has turned more than many prominent heads. All along the spectrum we have near-consensus in the Scientific community about the existence and the effects of Global Warming. The existence global warming one of the most widely shared beliefs among scientists despite what Republican cronies will try and tell you - it is an established fact.
So what's the corporate lobbyist to do? Simple: harness the power of the internet, specifically it's 'viral' nature with regards to new things, in a desperate attempt to sway young impressionable minds. They created a fictitious YouTube user and released a 'home made' by an everyday guy movie spoofing Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and try and argue that Global Warming not only is a load of bullocks. They then hired got conservative bloggers to post links to the movie and registered accounts at many forums around the internet encouraging users to 'check out' the video, and thus getting more hits (and hopefully converts).
Unfortunately, the internet isn't a completely anonymous place. It wasn't long before the video became one of the most viewed videos on YouTube, but as the number of viewers increased so did number of skeptics. It wasn't long before the account's email was routed back to the DCI Group in Washington. A lobbying firm who works for Exxon Mobil Corporation. If things couldn't get worse for DCI, The Wall Street Journal and much of the mainstream (and International) press has begun critical coverage of the cheap publicity stunt.
By the actions of Exxon Mobil and their Lobbyist, it has become clear that they have become apprehensive of popular opinion; how it's beginning to sway on both extremes and wont be long before both sides meet each other in middle America. The Big Oil companies are scared, and they have every reason to be, and with a big PR blunder like this, getting covered in the mainstream press no less, it just serves to remind people of how insidious greed can become.