Monte Burke did us all a great favor when he gave Todd Tanner, chairman of Conservation Hawks a guest slot in Forbes.com.
Tanner didn’t disappoint.
His ironic Death by Polar Bear points out why making polar bears the symbol for climate change seriously undermines the effort to address the issue.
Here’s a news flash. Nobody in the Lower 48 has ever seen a polar bear in their backyard, or at the local baseball field, or on their way to work. Nobody has seen one frolicking in a meadow or swimming across a river. Which makes the big white bears one of the worst symbols we’ve ever picked for anything, anywhere, at any point in human history. Seriously, this is Marketing 101. If you want to convince Americans they’re in danger, you don’t point toward the North Pole and hand them a pair of binoculars.
Bravo to Tanner for calling bullshit. He nails it. But before you get all warm and fuzzy or outraged, his marketing lesson is just a part of a larger message.
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