The End Of The World Is Deny?

Presenting powerful images is a potent way of getting an important message across.

But it comes at a risk. Go too far, and you risk alienating the very audience you're trying to reach, already made cynical as a result of having their fill of gratuitous imagery.

Then there is also the question of taste.

Take a look at the World Wildlife Fund advertisement at right created by international agency DDB's Brazil office.

The text, which is difficult to read says:

“The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.”

The advertisement was released this week and attracted - unsurprisingly - criticism for being insensitive and misleading.

Here's where it gets curious and confusing, but the web site Ad Week has been doing a great job in keeping the chronology straight.

1. On the Tuesday WWF denies the ad has anything to do with them
2. Research reveals the ad was created last year and received an international award (mention of which has been stripped from the award organiser's web site)
3. DDB and WWF then issue a joint statement to say that the ad was a one off mistake.
4. Further research reveals that not only a print version was whipped up, a video version exists too.

Both DDB and WWF deny that they had anything to do with the development of this ad - yet it's DDB's title card at the beginning of the clip and there's a heck of a lot of CGI going on in there for it to be an amateur production.

Decide for yourself:


Who's telling the truth? Who's lying?

Just one last thing to note is, if the Earth is 'brutally powerful', then are we mistaking in believing in 'man-made' climate change?