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?
I think this is great campaign by the WWF! I first learnt of it through a link on the IKEA website whilst researching for another assignment and the 'greenwashing' issue did occur to me. To be cynical about it it is all too easy for huge companies such as IKEA to just jump on the bandwagon of campaigns like this to improve their image and add to their CSR activity. Overall I think it is a great example of how social media is being utilised to mobilise the public on this issue on a global scale.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to have a birthday party that night so may well go and buy some candles for it now!
Thanks Emma for your comment and hope you have a fantastic Birthday that weekend! I have to agree with you and think that it can only be a good thing to get people involved on a global issue, such as this! Will there be any Birthday cake left? I think you should bring it into uni if there is!!
ReplyDeleteVery good use of social media I agree, but the sad thing is that CSR is over rated! I mean many companies just get involved with things like this to look good. But hey, at least they're doing something I guess! :) It's all about the image...
ReplyDeleteSo this global phenomenon just shows us how easy once again it is to connect with people from all around the world. 1 billion people contributing in this..when really, many could say "i don't care". It's amazing, imagine how many people found out about this through social media! And it is indeed nice to see that people still care about the Earth! But I bet that cake will be equally nice :)
In answer to your question, I will be spending earth hour in total darkness of course!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I think you picked a relevant and interesting topic this week. Earth hour is a great example of a global PR campaign which promotes a great cause. In recent years energy saving and environment protection have been propelled into a global issue, in which we can all do our bit to help. Company's who sign up to participate are not only helping the cause but demonstrating demonstrating positive CSR.
Earth hour has grown year-on-year and I believe it will continue to expand. WWF's strategy in promoting the event has been very cost efficient, and they have utilised a wide variety of social media tools to generate global interest in the campaign.
J Pizzle
For all you Blackberry users: there's also a free app available: http://www.berryreview.com/2010/03/12/wwf-releases-earth-hour-app-theme-in-app-world/
ReplyDeleteGreat topic and example of social media and new technology put towards a good cause.
I agree to all of you! This is really a great example how social media can be involved to implement a global campaign successfully. And I wished some more actions like that would be started to raise awareness on global issues. There are a lot of special days, introduced by the UN like the World Water Day on the 22. March – I posted it in my blog. I realised that no action was planned, no campaign started and no reminders or banners which capture the attention. For example it would be a symbol of solidarity and engagement to take off all fountains in cities. But they didn’t start such an action.
ReplyDeleteBut the more I appreciate the action of the WWF.
I'm inclined to agree with Miss Fantis... This presents a get-out clause for companies that don't feel they can afford to invest whole-heartedly in environmental causes but want the green-accolade all the same. Unfortunately, time would be better invested in altering the mindset of the general public and companies. Having said that it does provide hope that people are at the very least considering the consequences of their actions.
ReplyDeleteWhat is undeniable is how well planned and put into practice the campaign was. An international campaign promoted by a NGO with this huge impact is not that easy and must be highly valued. However, as I discuss in a post (http://acgarcia.net/?p=81) I don't think this initiative raise the proper awareness about climate change (and related topics) but instead how important the agreement among million of different people from all over the world is. Is interesting the comparison with the political engagement.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone has a valid point here. It is an excellent way to get the world together on a global scale, however has it really changed the way we go about our lives? no.
ReplyDeleteAs we've seen in recent weeks it is mother nature who calls the shots - e.g. Icelandic volcano disrupted flights worldwide - that changed the way people lived.