The failed marches of climate “cause” marketeers

Readers of this blog know that I rarely find anything commendable about Canada’s national (i.e. tax-funded) broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). There are, however, some exceptions to their agenda-driven superficial and utterly biased “coverage” of their favoured “causes”.

One such exception is a series they air (but do not produce) called Under the Influence. It’s all about advertising, produced and presented by Terry O’Reilly. In yesterday’s episode, O’Reilly traced the history of “Cause Marketing” which he defines as occurring when:

a Not-For-Profit organization teams up with a For-Profit company to further a good cause – but the For-Profit partner makes a profit while helping.

In his always fact-filled, informative and entertaining way, O’Reilly presented several examples. One example he did not mention, but which came to my mind as I was listening to this program, was a recent – and evidently very successful – campaign by (for profit) TELUS who had teamed up with (supposedly Not-For-Profit) WWF-Canada:

I’ve no idea who might have approached whom here … But #HomeTweetHome for a free Panda? How cool is that, eh?!

And as I listened to the program I was was also reminded of some fairly recent not-so-cool Cause Marketing efforts. The first one that came to mind was the latest self-aggrandizing creative writing exercise of Michael E. Mann, climate bully. Mann is a serial misrepresenter par excellence.

As Dr. Judith Curry had noted in a post, Mann was given air-time by the NYT (where else, eh?!) to engage in his by now typical self-serving casuistry. Then he took to twitter to recycle some mindless ad hom (ad fem?!) mud. As Curry quite rightly observed:

I see a scientist (Michael Mann) making an accusation against another scientist (me) that I am ‘anti-science,’ with respect to my EPW testimony. This is a serious accusation, particularly since my testimony is part of the Congressional record.

If Mann is a responsible scientist, he will respond to my challenge:

JC challenge to MM: Since you have publicly accused my Congressional testimony of being ‘anti-science,’ I expect you to (publicly) document and rebut any statement in my testimony that is factually inaccurate or where my conclusions are not supported by the evidence that I provide.
[…]
JC message to MM: If you want to avoid yourself being labeled as ‘anti-science’, I suggest that you are obligated to respond to my challenge.

As of this writing, it appears that Mann has (quite predictably) lived down to his “reputation”: he has not responded to Curry’s challenge. So let’s face facts, folks: Mann is a name-calling bully and a mediocre marketeer.

Another mediocre marketeer is the Ice Follies “star”, Chris Turney. His attempt to make a name for himself (and market his book and his business) has led him down a path that has been well-traversed by Mann: it’s called “make stuff up as you go along”, as Steve McIntyre recently documented.

But the trail-blazer of mediocre marketeers may be Ben Santer. As Anthony Watts related in a recent post, Santer appears to have set a precedent (echoed by Mann – and it will not surprise me if Turney eventually resorts to the same unsubstantiated clap-trap) with his whines to the effect that he’s been subjected to:

harassment, frivolous, nonsense, hatred, bullies, “forces of unreason”, abuse, and McCarthyism.

Have you ever seen any evidence presented by either Mann or Santer in support of these whines? No? Neither have I. But I do believe that all three of these climate cause marketeers would do well to heed Terry O’Reilly’s observation:

A smart Cause Marketing campaign has to lead with the products, not the cause.

Naturally, the products have to be of high quality; unfortunately for Mann, Turney and Santer “high quality” is not a phrase that comes to mind when considering their respective “products”. Ergo, despite their best efforts – and those of their acolytes, lesser lights and unquestioning media allies – their “cause” is, well, simply not sustainable ;-)

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