We open on a wife spraying a scented air freshener in her home, as her dutiful husband stands nearby. Then out of the blue a typical product pitchman enters the living room and asks, “Is regular clean clean enough for your family? Not when you can have Clean Coal Clean!”
He puts a black canister in her hand. Dirty, toxic spray spews forth from the canister, blackening the room as husband and wife start choking on the fumes.
The pitchman, unfazed, continues, “Clean Coal Clean harnesses the awesome power of the word ‘clean’ to make it sound like the cleanest there is.”
As the family–including two children–fans themselves and coughs repeatedly, the pitchman, now seen on the house’s front lawn, assures the viewer, “Clean coal is supported by the coal industry. The most trusted name in coal!”
This slice of polluted life is then broken by a message on screen that reads, “In reality, there’s no such thing as clean coal.”
An end tag directs us to thisisreality.org, the website for the Reality Coalition, a joint project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club.
“Clean Coal Clean–Air Freshener” is the first in a series of ads directed by Oscar-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, a.k.a. the Coen brothers, via Los Angeles-based production house Company for Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Boulder, Colo.
The Reality Coalition campaign is designed to debunk what it regards as the myth of “clean coal.”
“The coal industry has spent tens of millions of dollars selling the illusion of so-called ‘clean coal’,” said Brian Hardwick of the Alliance for Climate Protection. “Why? Because marketing and lobbying are much cheaper than actually making coal plants clean.”
Hardwick continued: “Coal companies would rather protect the status quo than actually do what is necessary for coal to be truly clean and be part of an energy future that doesn’t destroy the planet. We’re challenging them to stop the bogus marketing campaign, stop their delay tactics and support real progress toward climate solutions.”
The Crispin team on the Reality Coalition campaign included co-executive creative directors Andrew Keller and Rob Reilly, creative director Ryan Kutscher, associate creative director Paul Caiozzo, art director Santiago Escobar, integrated art director Javier Torok, copywriter Donnell Johnson, integrated head of video Matt Bonin, executive integrated producer Chris Kyriakos and executive integrated music producer Bill Meadows.
Robin Benson and Richard Goldstein exec produced for Company with Robert Nackman serving as head of production and Ron Neter as producer. The DP was Dan Hainey.
Editors were Paul Martinez and Christjan Jordan of Los Angeles-based Arcade Edit. Assistant editor was Greg Scruton. Damian Stevens and Alison Maldonado were exec producer and producer, respectively, for Arcade.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More