Oh Simple Thing, Where Have You Gone?

The first thing to say as I write this post is that I’m not working on commission (if only!) nor do I have any shares in the Renault company. I’ve never owned a car, let alone a Renault. And – as far as I know – I don’t have any preconceived notions about the company.

As such, I start from a fairly neutral standpoint when talking about... that which I’m about to talk. The only challenge to my neutrality comes from the fact that I’m less enamoured with the car, in general, than some. But I wouldn’t say that I’m anti-car in any extreme way. So while I may not be entirely neutral, I do consider my opinion to be balanced.

In today’s entry I’d like to describe my internal response to the new Renault advert:



I’m hoping that the enticement of Ewan McGregor will mean that by now you’ve seen the advert at least once.

I first saw it a couple of days ago. But before I go on...

For those of you who don’t know me, which – I suspect – is none of you, I should make it known explicitly that global climate change is a subject I feel very strongly about. I implied it above, but without knowing this about me, the rest of what I write won’t make much sense, so I thought I should just clear that up.

Anyway, I first saw the advert a couple of days ago. And as you can imagine (knowing me as you now do), it captured my attention straight away. It’s an oft-used trick in adverts to keep the identity of the product hidden until the opportune moment, and this ad did just that. So as it progressed I became more and more intrigued as to its origin, which, of course, is exactly the intention.

My initial guesses as to whom the advert belonged seems laughably naive with hindsight. I suppose it was partly that wish was the master of thought for me, but my first guess was that it was either a government-sponsored climate awareness campaign, or that Greenpeace had maxed-out their budget for one last crack at winning over hearts and minds.

Whatever its origin, I was beguiled by the beauty of the advert. As a piece of film it drew me in completely.

The first seconds conjured up memories of my childhood love of cars. I know that almost all young boys love cars, but I was an obsessive. For a time, I wasn’t complete without one of my dozens of toy cars in hand. I took them to the dinner table. I even took them to bed with me. Cars represent ambition, discovery, and adventure. And it’s always been a sadness that I’ve felt compelled to disown them when they brought me so much happiness.

After those opening words the advert quickly progressed to its nub: Cars may be wonderful inventions but our over-use of them, given their level of carbon emission, is threatening the lives other people. There are plenty of people who still contest this and see it as overly-emotive hyperbole. I wish I could be one of them, I really do, but I’m afraid there’s simply no debate. I’ll save an in-depth discussion for another post but for now, know that there’s overwhelming scientific evidence that the global climate is changing dangerously quickly, and that the warming is caused by human activity (see link at bottom for more). Nor is there any doubt that people are already being ousted from their homes by its effects.

As you can imagine, the combination of this, a subject on which I feel so passionate, combined with my continued weeping for lost innocence from the opening scenes, meant that the ad struck quite an emotional chord with me. Add to these the Keane instrumental (say what you want about them, but Somewhere Only We Know was a fantastic song!) and it wasn’t long before I was practically tremulous with the desire to exclaim my approval:

“Absolutely! Making the most of today really shouldn’t imply a lower quality of life tomorrow!”

“Quite right! Enjoyment for some SHOULDN’T cost the lives of others!”

(I should draw your attention to the word “practically” – I didn’t actually make the exclamations aloud. I’m far too repressed and English for that.)

But all in all, I was in a stiff-upper-lipped fervour.

And then came the hidden punch line.

This advert, about how harmful the car is, had been made by a car company.

Of course it had! As real as my excitement had been, my adult scepticism returned in a flash. This was priceless – are we meant to believe that this huge, faceless car company’s about to go all “good” and ditch its oil addiction? Get real!

But do you know what? I’m tired. Tired of my scepticism.

I’m not saying my cynicism hasn’t served me well – it has. Like when the oil company BP’s logo went all flowery and they made BP stand for “beyond petroleum”, only to continue feverishly digging up Canadian Tar Sands to get more oil. Not so much “Beyond Petroleum” as “Beyond Parody”.

Or when the energy company Eon made an advert with loads of people being blown off the ground by wind turbines. Firstly, from a science perspective they seem to have missed the point of wind turbines with that ad – the mooncalves seem to think wind turbines make wind. And secondly, the advert is rather two-faced coming from a company that’s aggressively trying to invest in new coal power stations.

So cynicism has its place. But I want to believe that Renault are trying to do good. I need to believe it. I can’t take much more disappointment.

Of course the company won’t ditch petrol cars over night. There are jobs to safeguard, and many other considerations that, whether we like it or not, affect big business. But it’s encouraging that, as we move into a new decade, they want to (be seen to) take a lead in creating the cars of a sustainable future. Perhaps if the media doesn’t take too cynical a stance towards their motives, and rather tries to highlight what a good thing electric cars are, the 2010s could be the true beginning of the electric revolution.

As the boys from Keane would put it: I’m getting old and I need something to rely on.

Stern Report – Part 1: Climate Change – Our Approach (The Science of Climate Change)