The Coen brothers, who won Academy Awards for “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men,” have turned their sardonic sights on the coal industry.
Joel and Ethan Coen directed a TV commercial attacking the notion that coal can be an environmentally safe way to produce electricity.
About 600 coal-burning plants supply nearly half the nation’s power, but critics say coal is a major contributor to global warming.
The commercial, which began airing Thursday on cable TV channels, plays like an air freshener ad. A smiling pitchman extolls the virtues of a black spray can labeled “clean coal.” But when a suburban housewife uses it, the can spews a black cloud that gives her family coughing fits. The ad ends with the line, “In reality, there’s no such thing as clean coal.”
“We were excited to be part of this important project and tell another side of the ‘clean’ coal story,” the Coens said in a statement.
The commercial was produced by a consortium of five environmental groups called the Reality Coalition, which was formed last year to counter promotional efforts by a coal industry trade group.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has spent $18 million on TV commercials promoting the industry’s use of pollution-control equipment and arguing that coal can be a clean, cheap and abundant fuel.
“Meeting America’s growing energy demand … is going to require the use of all energy technologies,” spokesman Joe Lucas said. “Technology has made coal a cleaner energy option.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More