The Independent : The Perils Of Inappropriate Advertising
Posted by keith on March 5th, 2008
Before someone decides to prevent me ever writing for any newspaper ever again (and by God, I’ve burnt a few bridges already!) I will say that I actually like The Independent. Of all the national newspapers in the UK it is by far the best for giving environmental issues a high profile, and saying what it thinks.
The paper recently ran an excellent article on the Open Skies Agreement, which will ensure the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by transatlantic aircraft goes well over what the smug naysayers in the air industry are claiming. This was backed up a Leader, which stated:
As this newspaper has long argued, the best way to do this is to start taxing the aviation industry fairly and properly. It is time that the price of air travel corresponded more closely with its environmental costs. The fact that airlines, by international convention, have never been subject to fuel tax or VAT has amounted to a vast hidden subsidy to this method of transport and one that urgently needs to be removed.
So why, in all that is sacred, are they running adverts that make them look like hypocrites? The picture above is a perfect example. A decent article about the dangers of air transport expansion nicely juxtaposed with an advert for long-haul flight behemoths, Emirates. And not just any old advert: one with interactive features to allow you to see the luxury inside one of their specially fitted-out Boeing or Airbus aircraft. Way to go, web designers!
In case the editors were wondering how bad Emirates is, according to their annual report for 2006-2007, the average Emirates passenger flew 4,400km, which produces about 0.62 tonnes of carbon dioxide. They carried 17.5 million passengers, which means that, in 2006/7, Emirates Airlines emitted around 10.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide: about the same as the whole of Jamaica emitted in the same year.
Not the best company to give space to in your Climate Change section.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:26 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Mike Harmon
March 5th, 2008 at 5:44 am
Cheers, Mike. If you see anything dodgy out there then please let me know.
Keith
March 5th, 2008 at 6:04 am
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March 9th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Not that it wasn’t an interesting read but aren’t those ads somewhat random? And/or served up based on keywords in the article? Not that it’s not a funny/ironic/horrible catch but on refresh, the ad is different.
This is a lame first comment cause I’ve been really enjoying your blog. Do not allow me to distract. :)
March 10th, 2008 at 6:24 am
I initially thought it was automatic, Will, but it seems on moving around that The Independent have a limited number of advertisers: Emirates and BT are two, and when I go to the front page today lambasting coal fired power stations, there is a big Emirates advert for safaris in Kenya. Don’t think I need to say more.
Thanks for looking in.
Keith
March 12th, 2008 at 6:17 am
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