GM went all - in for this year ’s Super Bowl , recruiting Mike Meyers , Seth Green , and other worker from the Austin Powers series for a smear that use the iconic Dr. Evil character to talk about , of all things , electric vehicle and clime change . But GM ’s farseeing chronicle of climate denial makes this advertizing painfully literal — and is a monition about how polluting company are now taste to greenwash their own reputation .
The1 minute and 30 2nd adsets up the jocularity : Dr. Evil , the character explains , has taken over GM , his first pace to then take over the world . Unfortunately , climate variety is now the world ’s number one terror , Dr. Evil ’s henchmen , Frau Farbissina and Number Two , and his Word , Scott Evil , differentiate him . The assumption of the ad is that Dr. Evil must “ help save the domain ” before he can take over the creation ; he ’ll do that by “ reduc[ing ] our carbon paper footprint ” with GM ’s fresh electric technologies . For the Super Bowl weekend , GM ’s Twitter temporarily became Dr. Evil ’s social media , posting a serial of tweets from the character about EVs and clime variety . On Monday morning , in response to ajokefrom “ Dr. Evil ” about donating “ one million dollars ” ( get it ) to fight climate change , CEO Mary Berrasaidon Twitter that the society would give an additional $ 50 million to its Climate Equity Fund .
Watching the advertizement , I ’m blown off at the irony of GM using a pretend supervillain to convert us that it ’s out here doing good . Sure , GM has made big , public PR move in recent years to show off the company ’s climate commitments , and haspromised to be “ carbon neutral”(huh ) by 2040 and produceonly zero - emissions vehicles by 2040 or in the beginning . But GM has a long and gross story of propping up clime demurrer and delaying action . It is a very literal move on the troupe ’s end to use Dr. Evil , when GM played a big role in getting us into this disaster in the first lieu .
Screenshot: General Motors
Most recently , during the Trump judicature , GM indorse the then - president’slengthy battle against California ’s abilityto set high emission standard for cable car and hand truck — a move that would have affected 13 other province that had also adopt California ’s stricter requirement . This support set GM apart from contender like Ford and Volkswagen , which on an individual basis agreed towork with Californiaon the strict standards . The caller wait until after the 2020 election towithdraw its keep for Trumpand to say it would adhere to California ’s higher standards .
GM ’s battle against regulations that would be good for the climate has recondite roots . In 2020 , E&E News come forth abombshell reportdocumenting how , in the sixties , scientist first represent Ford and GM with enquiry linking fogy fuel to climate change — and the troupe continue to lobby against mood action and prop up clime deniers for decade after this original research .
In the late nineties , GM give hundreds of one thousand of dollars to bourgeois think tanks bed for pushing climate denial , including the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the American Enterprise Institute . During this clock time , GM was also a extremity of the Global Climate Coalition , an industry - led lobbying chemical group dedicate toopposinggreenhouse gas regulations .
Making a plan to sell only electric cars is much in force for the mood than establish your business concern on gas - guzzler that will be all but obsolete in a decade as the EV gyration picks up speed . But pushingEV Hummers the size of a living roomthat be more than $ 110,000 is n’t just a move to “ save the human beings . ” GM may require to paint itself as a committed , like corporate actor , but the only reason it ’s moving toward EVs — which , in themselves , arenot synonymous with clime action — is because they’regood for the bottom line .
Corporations are shift as it becomes vindicated that mood - friendly action and products just make signified — especially from a marketing perspective . That ’s all well and in force , but we ’re starting to see a lot of companies withsketchy histories around climateput all their marketing efforts into the fleeceable basket , which , in many cases , is anattempt to cover up the factthat they ’re continuing to produce mathematical product that harm the planet . It ’s a uniquely weird sign of the times that GM is now pretending to be a climate saint .
Can incorporated Dr. Evils really exchange their bar ? We ’ll have to learn and see .
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and refinement word in your inbox daily .
News from the time to come , delivered to your nowadays .
You May Also Like
