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| Sierra Club Runs Off Road with Anti-Hummer Campaign - 07/30/03 |
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Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Sierra Club Runs Off Road with Anti-Hummer Campaign
Environmental group criticizes fuel-guzzling vehicles, but also uses them for tourist trips overseas
By The Detroit News
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There are plenty of environmental issues in the world, but the Sierra Club damages its credibility with a new campaign against a specific vehicle, the GM Hummer.
In attempted satire, the California-based group backs a web site with stories purporting to promote the Hummer but intended to disparage the trendy sport-utility vehicle.
The satire is marginal. Sample fake headline: "2002 Hummer H2 debates environmental issues with Susan Sarandon on Tuesday's Larry King Live." Not exactly a knee-slapper.
But the main problem is the tactic itself. It's a screed that unfairly attacks a specific lifestyle, the esoteric Hummer culture, even though Hummers represent only about 0.04 percent of world car production.
And when it comes to fuel-burning lifestyles, the Sierra Club has its own gaping credibility gap.
On the one hand, the group hammers the Hummer as wasting fuel. But the club also encourages and sells tourist trips to Antarctica, Africa and other environmentally sensitive regions.
It translates this way: A soccer mom is out of line if she wants an SUV for the sport of it. But it's fine for Sierra Club members to indulge their own whims by buying a $6,000 trip that burns fossil fuels (jets, ships and other vehicles) to take them to remote places. Not to mention the irony of environmentalists trampling pristine areas for fun.
At best, the message is mixed, especially since the Sierra Club itself describes Antarctica as "home to a very fragile ecosystem."
The new Hummer web site is in the same category as another mostly forgotten campaign, "What Would Jesus Drive?" They are gimmicks without substance. And in the case of the Hummer, the ploy also manages to give the vehicle free Internet advertising.
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