Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In the report “Smoke, Mirrors and Hot
Air” (2007), the Union of Concerned Sci-
entists explored how ExxonMobil was
employing Big Tobacco's tactics to manu-
facture uncertainty about global warm-
ing. The report identified five main tactics
used by tobacco companies to cast doubt
on the dangers of smoking: (1) question-
ing even indisputable scientific evidence
showing their products to be hazardous;
(2) engaging in “information laundering”
by using and even establishing seemingly
independent front organizations to make
the industry's case and confuse the public;
(3) promoting scientific spokespeople and
investing in scientific research in an at-
tempt to lend legitimacy to their public re-
lations efforts; (4) attempting to recast the
debate by charging that the wholly legiti-
mate health concerns raised about smoking
were not based upon “sound science”; and
(5) cultivating close ties with government
officials and members of Congress. The
report shows how ExxonMobil uses these
very same tactics to create doubt in the
public's mind over the scientific consensus
regarding global warming.
ExxonMobil is by no means the only
petrochemical player to dabble in manu-
facturing doubt. In 1991 the Western Fuels
Association teamed with the National Coal
Association and the Edison Electric Insti-
tute to create a campaign to combat the
public's growing concern over global warm-
ing. After considering such names as the
Information Council for the Environment,
Informed Citizens for the Environment,
and Informed Choices for the Environ-
ment, they settled on the Information
Council for the Environment (ice). The
science historian Naomi Oreskes has pub-
lished their founding documents on the
Internet. These documents show that ice's
strategy echoes the earlier campaigns by
tassc. ice spelled out a seven-point strat-
egy, beginning with an attempt to “reposi-
tion global warming as theory (not fact).”
Another strategy was to “use a spokesman
from the scientific community.”
ice chose four cities (Chattanooga, Ten-
nessee; Champaign, Illinois; Flagstaff, Ari-
zona; and Fargo, North Dakota), all of
which were home to members of either the
House Energy and Commerce Committee or
the House Ways and Means Committee, as
test markets for a $500,000 marketing cam-
paign. The goals of the test markets were
(1) to demonstrate that a consumer-based
media awareness program can change the
opinions of a selected population regarding
the validity of global warming; (2) to begin
developing a message and strategy for shap-
ing public opinion on a national scale; and
(3) to lay the groundwork for a unified front
for the national electric industry on global
warming.
The strategy included radio and print
campaigns. The radio ads would “directly
attack the proponents of global warm-
ing by relating irrefutable evidence to the
contrary, delivered by a believable spokes-
person,” while the print ads would “attack
proponents through comparison of global
warming to historical or mythical instances
