8 Most Powerful Climate Change Ads

Hurricane Sandy restarted the conversation in Washington. Some of these ads are seriously depressing.

1.

From 2009. How do you do a Global Warming ad with, literally, no budget?

This is how. Brilliant. Via Y&R Interactive Israel & Mizbala.

2.

From 2012.

You may remember last Summer, Greenpeace set up a spoof Shell website that fooled millions. This ad, which was actually erected in Houston, won the online contest for best spoof Shell ad. A wonderfully subversive effort.

3.

From 2009.

Outerwear company Columbia, through Chilean ad agency Prolam Y&R, placed this billboard on a newly refurbished building in Santiago. The headline translates to: “The air that cools your home heats up the world.” The photo is of refugees fleeing flooding in Asia.

Columbia, according to their website, is a member of the Conservation Alliance, “a group of specialty outdoor businesses that has become a powerful source of grass roots conservation and environmental funding.”

4.

From 2010.

The video is by Greenpeace Germany.

Rough copy translation: “In 30 years, the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer. The climate needs you.”

In case you were wondering, yes, polar bears can drown.

A bit too literal for my ad tastes, but some people need to be smacked in the face with a message. Ad agency: DDB, Paris.

5.

From 2008.

Really amazing Photoshop work here.

You may laugh at it at first, but then the message sinks in (no pun intended).

Ad agency: Germaine, Antwerp.

6.

From 2012.

The polar regions are shrinking, and this will destroy polar wildlife.

Usually, I cringe at these types of melodramatic PSAs. But this one destroyed my cynicism. V/O Jude Law. Music: Radiohead.

7.

From 2012.

These ink drawings of David versus industrial Goliaths are amazing.

The problem with the ads for me is that they're too good.

The fight, right now, is pretty much that hopeless.

Ad agency: DraftFCB Switzerland.