Fondation Nicolas Hulot
Fondation Nicolas Hulot is a non-profit, environmental concerned french association which fights against human destroying activities, climate changes and so on. The aim is to make people realize that to nature, we are all daily terrorists with our consumer addictions. What are your thoughts on this one?
Agency: CLM BBDO, Paris.
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January 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Complete the slogan with: “SINCE 50.000 B.C.”. Please, don’t call me guilty for the cut down of trees. Where is the great business in that ad?
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
It’s a nice idea, punchy and attention grabbing…
I’m just not sure I feel all that confortable with an atrocity like 911 being manipulated to further an entirely unrelated cause no matter how worthy that cause may be.
Surely there are other historical references they could draw upon, ones that no longer carry such emotional resonance in its victims?
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:45 am
Excellent imagery! I just love it and it conveys the message (Nature under constant attack) very well.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
the irony is that the ad is printed on paper…. that’s made from trees. Interesting imagery. As a New Yorker I feel a bit uneasy about the imagery though. Not crazy about this one, seems a bit in poor taste.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Typical French. Typical tree-huggers. I’d cut down a million trees to save one human life.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Global warming will lead to extinction of many species. We might be among those species. Thats why this is a important issue. I like the ad.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I’m with Yulia, as a New Yorker the imagery makes me fairly uncomfortable. I know that’s the goal and it’s certainly a conversation piece, but the whole thing is a little too fresh to be used in advertising. (Then again, I also am against all the films that have come out and refuse to see them, so who am I to say?)
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Definitely poor taste. And silly. So are they suggesting we stop cutting down trees altogether?? I think it’s ridiculous that they would compare something as tragic as the twin towers with cutting down trees. Boo. This ad sucks.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
“I’d cut down a million trees to save one human life.”
An average tree produces ~.06 lbs of O2 per day.
An average Human uses ~1.5 lbs of O2 per day.
1,000,000*.06=60,000 lbs
60,000/1.5=40,000
So, those one million trees would produce enough oxygen to allow 40,000 people to breathe for one day.
Just throwing that out there.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
It’s an allegory !
The imagery works together with the claim : “For nature, everyday is 9/11″.
It’s just to say that daily, nature is being attacked by human activity. No matter what New Yorkers may think, it’s just the truth I think.
Most of human beings are terrorists to nature.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
It’s an original take on the issue but I don’t think it’s appropriate personally.
I commented on this ad on another blog and there were a lot of commenters saying how you can’t compare trees to humans. Whilst I’m sure there are many who’ll debate even that, I tend to lean to their side.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
On a side note, nice scarves Yulia.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Certainly stops readers from flipping the precious papyrus too quickly, but at what cost?
Re-purposing any human-on-human disaster to get this message across sure feels like bad-taste to me. Imagine this same ad with a Spanish or English or Japanese public train system. Still smarts—still bad taste.
They could’ve found a much better way to do this. Of course, it wouldn’t be as cool and anti-U.S…
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
9/11 has been used in several campaigns. For example Cobis.
Another one created for Lego resulted in creatives being fired and apology letters.
Touchy subject, but for a NPO almost all is ok in my opinion.
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:11 pm
pimping disaster - completely tasteless.
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Why in the world would such an ad be anti-US???
This has nothing to do with it!
It is just making a connection between an horrible act of terrorism that led to war, with a different act of terrorism which is happening everyday right before our eyes without generating any real action.
No trees / No life… Kill Nature / Kill everyone… I personnaly call THAT terrorism…
Now if it takes that kind of imagery to get people’s attention… Then be it!
January 23rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
[...] » Fondation Nicolas HulotAdvertising/Design Goodness [...]
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm
With an overall message of “Nature under constant attack,” I’m surprised the French didn’t use a close-up photo of Mickey Rourke.
January 24th, 2007 at 1:36 am
This = lame
January 24th, 2007 at 5:24 am
How can you not see the subtlety of this? Are most Americans really that ignorant?
This ad does in no way lessen the tragedy of 9/11. It uses the event to illustrate very nicely what’s done to Nature all the time.
Still a great ad.
ps. And where does it say that there shouldn’t be ANY trees cut anymore??
January 24th, 2007 at 6:31 am
[...] » Fondation Nicolas Hulot - Advertising/Design Goodness Uhhh. Autsch! (tags: blog advertising) [...]
January 24th, 2007 at 6:37 am
This ad ABSOLUTELY NEVER TALKS ABOUT TREES
Where did you guys see that ?
January 24th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
[...] La Fondazione Nicolas Hulot lotta contro le attività distruttive dell’uomo che contribuiscono, tra l’altro, ai cambiamenti climatici in atto. Lo scopo di questa campagna è far realizzare alle persone che i nostri comportamenti sono per la natura un 11 Settembre costante. Il messaggio è decisamente chiaro, ma forse l’effetto è un po’ troppo “pugno nello stomaco”. Voi cosa ne pensate? Credete sia un esempio da imitare o credete in pubblicità più “soft”? Potete vedere un’immagine ingrandita qui.Via | Frederiksamuel.com postato da Gianluca Pezzi il mercoledì 24 gennaio 2007 in: [...]
January 24th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hey Typical Tree Hugger,
I’d cut down a million trees, whether it saved a human or not.
Why?
To piss off tree huggers.
And by the way, there are more trees in America today then there were 80 years ago.
Quit being a dick.
January 24th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Ben, wake up. That statistic is pure bullshit. Time to scrub the Rush out of your brain.
Daldianus, it may not “lessen the tragedy” of 9/11 (how could anything? turn back time and start evacuating people before the planes hit?), but it sure does trivialize every terrorist attack ever. Again I say: why didn’t they do this ad using the Spanish train bombings? Just for giggles?
Subtlety? Alright Mr. Big Brain, lay it all out for me. You know, since I’m such a thick-skulled American and all. I want every nuance explained.
The shocking re-purposing of that image is a half-hearted attempt. A much more creative & powerful solution is there. This smacks of 1st-year student work, to be frank. Deal with it.
Pierre, not anti-US as in “we hate America, burn motherfucker, burn.” More like “this is the only way to get the attention of those fat, self-centered slobs.” See the difference?
Its as much an insult to the reader and anyone else. This should’ve never made it past brainstorming.
Bob, Ha ha!
January 24th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Hey VonK,
I hate Rush. (I assume you’re talking about the radio host, not the band) No, I got that tidbit of info from Penn & Teller’s show, “Bullshit.”
Go look it upon Google video and watch the episode about enviromentalists.
January 25th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
You foreigners need to stop using 9/11 to sell your shit.
January 25th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Americans… get over yourselves. This ad is SUPPOSED TO HIT HOME…it’s not anti-US, it’s anti-terrorism/nature destruction. The damage we’re doing to nature is more shocking than this ad but you don’t seem to care…
January 25th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Right Lavernius, cause all foreigners are not american. I didn’t know there were only two distinct kinds of people in the world now.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Yes, it’s striking. Yes, it’ll get a reaction. But it’s in poor taste, plain and simple, and there’s no arguing around it. It’s a cheap way of getting a reaction.
Execution-wise, how are trees cut down? Are they blown up?
The ad doesn’t say why should we care. Where’s the emotion? The only emotion this ad gets is from BORROWED INTEREST.
January 26th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
The explosion being pasted on here is a bit rediculous,almost silly, things that hit trees don’t explode. Why didn’t they opt for both trees in smoke? which still would keep the the connection to 9/11 present but would also alude to other things that are a problem such as forest fires which is a real problem today connected to global warming.
why not show dark holes cut into the trees similar to the holes seen in the towers? wouldn’t that be more shocking? why only two trees? isn’t that a bit obvious in forcing relation to 9/11? why not multiple trees showing the damage more widespread? isn’t that more effective?
Why not show a real pic of a cleared forrest while keeping the tagline?
I can see that it’s an excellent idea,but it was poorly executed seemingly to win prizes and only add shock value.
This could have been done more effectively in so many other ways.
January 27th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I think it trivialzes the damage we are doing to the global environment.
January 29th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I saw that episode of Bullshit, and they are right, but its not to say that we are not overdoing it in some places. I am a New Yorker but I think this ad misses the point in many ways. First of all, the ‘everyday is 911″ line is totally unnecessary. Is it really that hard to make the connection? Plus, what is the message? Nature gets destroyed for no reason? Anywho, this is one of those things that can get debated forever. So lets settle, its compelling but not that clever.
February 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
When will Americans get over themselves?
As long as the audience, irregardless of nationality, can get the idea and urgency / importance of the message, then the goal is fulfilled.
If we use any other imagery, say, the SEA Tsunami or London bombings, they might not care simply ‘cos it doesn’t strike a chord with them.
Trees doesn’t have to be mentioned. It wasn’t, and everyone understands that’s what the topic is all about - saving the trees. Now how many ads can boast of not mentioning something but have people understand what it’s talking about?
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm
when i saw that it’s from an..
1)”environmental concerned” association which
2)”which fights against HUMAN DESTROYING ACTIVITIES” ,
i was thinking perhaps, with that image, they’re trying to get people to stop bombing each other because explosions cause
1)air pollution and
2)LOSS OF HUMAN LIVES
hmmm.