The good folks at Georgia Forest Watch wonder what you think about this poster. They’ve got it on display at Patagonia in Atlanta, where they’re competing for a nice $4,000 grant. I don’t know what the other groups have on display, so we’ll have to evaluate this one on its own merits. So weigh in — would you vote for them? If not, why not?

Thanks to Lori, the group’s outreach director, for volunteering her work!

Check out these ads, which reveal a great deal about different attitudes that polluters and conservationists bring to the task of persuading the public.

Social research consistently find that corporations, especially those in the fossil fuel business, have a serious credibility gap with the public. So what do they do? They work hard to put the best face possible on their business — your face. Polluters create ads that use pictures and words to tell heartwarming stories that link their business to everyday citizens’ families and children. And then they get feedback from everyday citizens before they run them, just to make sure they got it right. Check out the faces in these two examples:

Source: EnergyTomorrow Coalition

Social research consistently finds that nature protection and pollution control experts enjoy pretty good credibility with everyday citizens on our business. So what do we do? We create cryptic, sterile ads that portray the environment as remote and impersonal. We skip the step of getting feedback everyday citizens and run the ads after our peers approve them. And then we wonder why ads like the one below don’t seem to make much difference in a public policy debate:

Bottom line here: Polluters do it better because they try harder. And that’s one of the reasons they can overcome their credibility gap and beat us on vital policy matters.

Here’s a video that delivers a stern warning against dumping household hazardous waste down the toilet or in the stormdrain. It’s a great message for those who are paying close attention, but some people will see the commercial while sitting in a bar, or in the airport, or while their kids are yelling in their ear, or in some other distracting situation. Those folks won’t hear the narrator saying it’s bad to dump oil down the storm drain — they’ll just see a guy dumping oil down the drain and his wife doesn’t seem to mind.

Monkey see, monkey do. Under certain circumstances, this video could accidentally send the message that it’s ok to dump oil down the storm drain. The video should show the guy’s wife hitting him with a frying pan. That’s a message that would come through even if the sound was off.

Oh, yes indeed. Here’s a very nice piece. It doesn’t actually use the water words that work, but it hits all the right buttons. Watch this piece and watch how hard the producers are working to prove to viewers that their $1 donation makes a difference, and that if a lot of people work together to make a $1 dollar donation, it will make a big difference to help all those children stay healthy! Terrific work from The Tap Project!

Tip of the hat to Julie at the Water Resources Education Network for sharing this fine work.