Sometimes you look at something that a large organization full of smart people does and are left only to stammer… “Really? Nobody in the whole damn place had the good sense to kibosh this?”
Such is the case with this new 2005 ad for GE clean coal featuring babelicious coal miners walking around underground pretending to pickax out some bituminous. These “model” miners are meant to represent, ahem, the fact that coal is going to save us from global warming. The spot is so incredibly stupid at so many levels that we feel inadequate to the task of unpacking that stupidity. But, like an aspiring actress pretending to mine coal, we will at least try to chip away at it.
For one thing, to this day, coal mining is a very tough and very dangerous game. And while the constant flow of coal-generated electricity benefits pretty much all of us, the negative effects of coal extraction–disease, accidents, environmental devastation–tend to be concentrated in poor, sad places that most of us generally ignore. Which sucks, but as a society we’ve elected to do things that way. But, in that context, isn’t there is a lapse of taste involved in the goofy, detached glee that GE takes depicting a “better” world where the real-life people who endure these hardships are replaced by pretty plastic showbiz strivers from LA or NYC? Honestly… puke.
Plus there’s the fact–pointed out eloquently by Andrew Leonard–that the soundtrack of the ad, “Sixteen Tons,” is a song about the brutal hardships of being a coal miner. Are we meant to chuckle at this apparently ironic repurposing as some silicone princess awkwardly hoists a prop-room coal bucket?
Then there’s message: “”Imagine if a 250-year supply of energy were right here at home. Now thanks to emissions reducing technology from GE, harnessing the power of coal is looking more beautiful every day.”
Ha! “More beautiful”! Hi-lar-ious!
Except, like, even at the level of substance it’s total bullshit. Coal is the number one source of human greenhouse emissions. Enabling that dependence by pretending that it can be “green” is disingenuous to the point of villainy. The right thing to do is eliminate coal from our power generation portfolio as aggressively as possible. Nobody should be blurring that fact, ever.
GE is a company that’s doing a lot of good things with respect to energy and green transportation. But this ad–both in style and substance–skews far, far in the other direction.
More generally: what’s with the recent trend of using T&A in energy ads? After the jump check out recent spot–also a big fat FAIL–by BP that features gratuitous use of scarcely-concealed naked ladyparts:
UPDATE: This ad isn’t new. We saw the Salon item linked above and shared their impression that it was. But it isn’t. Apparently we didn’t watch enough tv in 2005. More proof that the internet is just plain stupid.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Mmm, I’d like to be a canary in that coalmine.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
The sick part is that more and more coal mining is this “mountain” topping method
that ruins the hills and you dont restore a mountain..this needs to be banned ..
September 28th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
The coal ad reminds me of Zoolander…
September 28th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
That second ad, where he says “beyond pain– joy”: are those breast implants? Bizarre.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Surely this is all just propaganda that is attempting to sway the American perception of coal so it gets favoured in the coming climate bill. Natural gas is clearly a better option, but large corporations such as GE will throw money at ad campaigns (that will probably work) so they don’t lose out in the long run. Its ridiculous, corporate fat cats need to stop worrying about their bank balances and start worrying about our climate.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:49 am
The BP ad is particularly noxious now that the company has a new CEO who’s actively hostile to all its non-petroleum divisions. Its rep as “the green-ish-er oil company” is shot to hell.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:42 am
That is so offensive that I need to comment to say that I’m speechless with horror.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:38 am
This isn’t exactly a “new ad” from GE. I’m not sure when I first saw it myself, but it was at least two years ago. Not that that reduces any of the ridiculousness, but it’s not like GE just came out with this in the current context of Obama pushing for climate legislation and the lead up to COP-15. I found the use of “sixteen tons” particularly ironic/offensive.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Avery - Ah, interesting. I thought it was new. Thanks for the correction.
Jebediah
September 29th, 2009 at 10:56 am
The ad was released in 2005 but removed after “GE was eventually pressured into dropping the ad campaign after it received numerous complaints from coal mining families”, as can be read in this fairly comprehensive article.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:00 am
The “Model Miners” ad is far from new… it aired in 2005 as one of the first Ecomagination ads, and GE got ridiculed constantly for it. Luckily, the rest of their Ecomagination ads that followed steered clear of such preposterous imagery.
Slate did a great writeup of it at the time: http://www.slate.com/id/2119668/
September 29th, 2009 at 11:11 am
For better or worse, you know the ad, you know the company. From an attention grabbing perspective, its a success.
As to the visuals and the music choice, there is very little in the visuals that has to do with the way coal is mined today and they have carefully selected only the portion of the song that doesn’t address the real social tragedies in coal mining.
GE isn’t selling coal mining technology, they are selling power generation technology and the emissions controls that go with it.
September 29th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
It’s quite difficult to judge which set of ads are the worse (the auto ads where a mini-skirted model slithers into the front seat and speeds along urban roads without another car in sight are pure fantasy), both ecomagination and autofantasies ads are disturbing. Sustainable solutions are not seen by most CEOs as sexy or profitable.
September 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
As a graphic designer/web designer I could never in a million years put together an ad for a company that destroys the environment with its unhealthy practices. Which makes me wonder why some advertising firms are still willing to touch these 19th century subjects…even if they are plastic and lack substance people do unfortunately watch them..