On Saturday 27th March 2010 at 2030hrs an estimated 1 billion people are to turn out their lights for one hour. Since 2008, WWF have turned lights out in cities and towns all over the world. The Eiffel Tower, Edinburgh Castle, The Acropolis, The Bund and many famous landmarks and buildings all turn out the lights for one hour... even the Old Stirling Bridge will be in darkness this year. It all started in 2007 at Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House where there were over two million people participating. Today, over 100 countries have registered to be in darkness for one hour including Costa Rica and Bangladesh who have just joined - so what is actually going on? It's all about PR!
Earth Hour is a campaign initiated by WWF to let people be more aware of climate change and global warming. What I have been watching is how WWF communicates to the world and how they have succeeded in getting 100 cities (so far) to join Earth Hour. Even hotel chains have signed up, which will no doubt help their PR as well. Click Green reported that the most recent hotel chain to sign up to Earth Hour was Radisson Edward, "hotel guests will also be encouraged to switch off their own bedroom lights and join the hotel for an intimate evening of dinner by candlelight." The Marketing Director of Radisson Edward explained,
"As a global brand we believe we should earn our place on this planet and help to support and sustain our environment for future generations. We strive to conduct our business by improving our overall ecological and carbon footprint without compromising on guest experience and satisfaction.”
So how has WWF used social media to spread the word on Earth Hour? Well, they have used the usual outlets, such as:
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube channel
An officical blog
YouTube channel
An officical blog
They have numerous websites that are applicable to different regions and have a couple global websites.
Newsletters
Email
As a follower of WWF, I have signed up to Earth Hour through their UK website. I get emails occasionally telling me about current and up-and-coming campaigns and how I can help. Earth Hour is clearly a PR exercise to try and approximately know how many people will be turning off the lights from 2030-2130hrs on 27th March 2010 and where they will be switching off. They are guessing that one billion people will contribute, which is a phenomenal global participation. This shows that people are willing to stop what they are doing and show that they do care about the Earth. It is also their way of communicating to the politicians who are still against signing the Kyoto Protocol, of which USA is the main target - the richest country has yet to sign the treaty and it seems it doesn't really want to.
As the UK is getting ready for the General Election in May, the issue of apathy is very apparent . As Sue Wolstenholme commented that politicians "...overlook the fact that large numbers of people are becoming politically active in other ways" The WWF have used the internet to let their members or followers know about their campaigns and then hope that the followers will forward on the news by Tweeting, Facebooking or emailing your friends and family. Being an activist doesn't mean you have to go to the venue of a G8 Summit and criminally damage the nearest McDonalds! This WWF campaign is getting the world together and wants to know how the world will celebrate "Earth Hour" by giving them feedback and photographic evidence like the below picture:
Newsletters
As a follower of WWF, I have signed up to Earth Hour through their UK website. I get emails occasionally telling me about current and up-and-coming campaigns and how I can help. Earth Hour is clearly a PR exercise to try and approximately know how many people will be turning off the lights from 2030-2130hrs on 27th March 2010 and where they will be switching off. They are guessing that one billion people will contribute, which is a phenomenal global participation. This shows that people are willing to stop what they are doing and show that they do care about the Earth. It is also their way of communicating to the politicians who are still against signing the Kyoto Protocol, of which USA is the main target - the richest country has yet to sign the treaty and it seems it doesn't really want to.
As the UK is getting ready for the General Election in May, the issue of apathy is very apparent . As Sue Wolstenholme commented that politicians "...overlook the fact that large numbers of people are becoming politically active in other ways" The WWF have used the internet to let their members or followers know about their campaigns and then hope that the followers will forward on the news by Tweeting, Facebooking or emailing your friends and family. Being an activist doesn't mean you have to go to the venue of a G8 Summit and criminally damage the nearest McDonalds! This WWF campaign is getting the world together and wants to know how the world will celebrate "Earth Hour" by giving them feedback and photographic evidence like the below picture:
One thing I do find interesting is WWF's strategy to use international companies such as Ikea to support Earth Hour. If companies want to be seen as green, then they should join Earth Hour whether they are greenwashing or not. The closer we get to 27th March, more companies are signing up.
Burkart's COPR is a communications theory and seems to be evident in WWF's PR campaign(s),
It develops aspects of mutual understanding as described in Grunig and Hunt's 'two-way symmetrical model' (1984), where communication can flow equally back and forth between sender and receiver. (Wolstenholme)
So, how will you be spending Earth Hour?
