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HSBC’s Lumberjack Ad: Pitting Tree Sitters Against Loggers

This 2008 ad for HSBC portrays the conflict between tree-sitters (activists trying to stop deforestation of old-growth forests) and loggers. It closes with the phrase: “We recognise how people value things differently. So what we learn from one customer helps us better serve another.” Students can be encouraged to explore the environmental values being represented in the ad and discuss how it relates to HSBC’s financial policies and environmental impacts. This can also be used to explore and discuss differing environmental ideologies.

Audi ad: Norway says no way to Will Ferrell

Audi responds to the GM Super Bowl ad with it’s own version of an electric vehicle (EV) ad. It can be used to explore humor and corporate framing of environmental issues. It is suggested to be watched with the GM Will Ferrell ad and Norway’s response.

Will Ferrell’s Super Bowl GM EV Ad

General Motors and Will Ferrell make fun of Norway in this 2021 Super Bowl ad. It can be used to discuss the idea of green nationalism and conservatism. It should be viewed along with Audi and Norway’s response.

Ecosia Ad: Weird Search Requests

Ecosa is a search engine that donates profits to plant trees. It has helped plant over 120 million trees. The ad can prompt discussion on the environmental impacts of web searches and server farms. The ad can also be used to explore environmental ideology and environmental discourses.

Cadillac EV Super Bowl Ad: The American Dream?

This Cadillac 2014 Commercial is for their electric vehicle (EV) ELR Coupe. Explore with students how it represents the American Dream and its connection with class status, race, and gender. The ad is promoting an EV, but are the beliefs and values depicted beneficial or damaging to the environment? Compare this ad with Ford’s Upside: Anything is Possible ad.

Samsung Ad: Drag and Drop World

A 2008 ad from the early days of touchscreen technology, it touts the benefits of being able to change and manipulate the world. This is a great warm-up video to discuss whether or not it expresses anthropocentric (human centric) or ecocentric (environmental centric) values. Students can discuss who has the power to shape and change the world and for what ends (for example, what kind of person in the video has the power to manipulate the world). It also allows for the discussion of the types of behaviors that are beneficial or damaging to the environment. Finally, it also depicts gender relations and can be used to discuss the relationship between gender and the environment (ecofeminism).

Toys R Us vs. Outdoor Education

This 2013 “mockumentary” ad for Toys R Us shows a group of school kids being taken on a field trip to the forest. The kids are shown to be bored and disinterested until the trip leader announces that they are actually going to Toys R Us. This provides a rich discussion for how different environments are portrayed. You can can compare the framing of the natural world versus the the environment of the toy store and how they are represented as distinct. You can also discuss which provides more education, excitement, and fulfillment, according to Toys R Us and our own lived experience. This can also be used to discuss the issue of nature deficit disorder.

Outdoor Education – Toys R Us Parody

This should be shown along with the Toys R Us ad. This short grassroots video responds to Toys R Us by showing the benefits of outdoor education. The discourses around the benefits of outdoor education can be compared to how it is represented in the Toys R Us ad.

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