Heartland Pulls Billboard Comparing Warming Science to Mass Murder

"Drivers moving along Chicago’s inbound Eisenhower Expressway on Friday may have been surprised to see Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, staring at them from a massive billboard. 'I still believe in global warming. Do you?' the billboard read in large maroon letters. Just below was the Web address www.heartland.org. Hours later, the digital billboard was gone. It seems that the ad campaign, sponsored by the conservative Heartland Institute, had bombed."



"'We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland’s friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment,' the institute said late Friday afternoon said in a statement. 'We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.'"

Rachel Nuwer reports for the New York Times' Green blog May 4, 2012.

SEE ALSO:

"The Short Hot Life of Heartland’s Hateful Climate Billboard" (Dot Earth)

"Billboard Likening Global Warming Believers to Unabomber is Pulled" (TIME)

"Unabomber Fiasco Was Tame By Heartland Institute Standards" (Forbes/Steve Zwick)

"Climate Sceptic Ad Backfires" (Sydney Morning Herald)

"Are Heartland Billboards the Beginning of the End for Climate Denial?" (The Conversation)

"Group Pulls Plug on  Billboard Linking Global Warming Believers To Terrorists" (Washington Post)

"Leading GOPer Chastises Right Wing Group for Comparing Climate Believers To Mass Murderers" (WashPost/The Plum Line/Greg Sargent)

"The Heartland Institute Self Destructs" (Huffington Post/Richard Schiffman)

"Controversial Ad Campaign Costs Climate Skeptics Group Partnerships" (Red Orbit)

"Global Warming Deniers Mount Ad Campaign Calculated To Outrage" (Los Angeles Times/Dan Turner)

"Climate Wars Heat Up With Pulled Unabomber Billboards" (USA TODAY)

"From the Heartland: Schoolchildren, Climate, and... Mass Murder?" (Huffington Post/Shawn Lawrence Otto)

"Heartland's Climate Change Billboard: HuffPost Follows Publicity Stunt To Its Logical Conclusion" (Huffington Post/Lucia Graves)

"Heartland Institute Jumps the Shark" (Climate Central/Mike Lemonick)

"An Open Letter to State Farm About Climate Denial" (Huffington Post/Shawn Lawrence Otto)

"Heartland Institute Launches Campaign Linking Terrorism, Murder, And Global Warming Belief" (WashPost/Capital Weather Gang/Jason Samenow)

"Heartland Institute Compares Climate Science Believers And Reporters To Mass ‘Murderers And Madmen’" (Climate Progress/Joe Romm)

"As Supporters Jump Ship, Heartland Institute Stands By Its Widely Condemned Anti-Science Hate Speech" (Climate Progress/Rebeccca Leber & Joe Romm)

"Heartland’s Billboards and Joe Romm’s Stunning Hypocrisy" (Watts Up With That?/Anthony Watts)

"Climate Wars Reach New Low" (Collide-a-Scape/Keith Kloor)

"Diageo To End Funding of Heartland Institute After Climate Change Outburst" (Guardian)

"Heartland Takes Heat Over Billboard" (Chicago Tribune)

"Microsoft Fail: Computer Company Criticizes Heartland But Won't Withhold Future Support" (DeSmogBlog/Richard Littlemore)

"Will Heartland Institute's Corporate Funders Tacitly Endorse Comparing Climate Realists to bin Laden and the Unabomber?" (DeSmogBlog/Brendan DeMelle)
 

Source: Green (NYT), 05/07/2012