Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/02/24/ofcom_drowning_dog_probe/

Ofcom probes TV climate porn

But too late to save Drowning Dog

By Andrew Orlowski

Posted in Science, 24th February 2010 14:42 GMT

Ofcom is to investigate the Government's notoriously emotive 'Drowning Dog' prime time TV advertisements. Ad industry self-regulator the ASA is already conducting its own investigation of the 'climate porn' campaign.

The taxpayer-funded advertisement features a father reading a bedtime story to his young daughter. The picture book comes to life, with a Carbon Monster engulfing a town; many cartoon animals are swept away in the resulting floods - which are the result of humans keeping the heating on and driving cars, the advertisement says.

Ofcom received over 700 complaints, many of which argued it was political advertising. Even global warming advocates found it distasteful, while the Taxpayer Alliance doubted that the ad would ever have been broadcast if had been produced by an independent pressure group.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change spent £6m on the ads, which may have badly misjudged the mood of the public. The advertisements were drawn up before the release of the 'Climategate' emails, the failure of the COP15 summit, a succession of climate science-'gates' and the worst winter in years. An Ipsos Mori poll, taken at the end of January, has shown a sharp rise in people who believe Global Warming is exaggerated, and a drop in people who believe humans are responsible for it.

"Climate change scepticism is in vogue at last," reckons one pundit.®