Ready to get proud about the future of Australian coal power? An upcoming ad campaign from Coal21 reportedly has this goal in mind and to make coal great again.
While solar energy is hugely popular in Australia, coal mining and coal power have a well-deserved image problem due to the environmental, health and economic damage they wreak.
According to an ABC report published this morning, $4 million to $5 million is to be spent by Coal21 on ads for television, social media and other online channels, print, out-of-home and radio to convince Australians coal has a future.
Coal21 says it primarily invests in the development of “low-emissions” coal-fired power generation technologies and coal mine emissions reduction. The organisation is financially supported by a voluntary levy on coal production paid by its members, which are:
- Anglo American Metallurgical Coal Pty Ltd
- Bengalla Mining Company Pty Ltd
- BHP Billiton Mitsui Coal Pty Ltd
- Bloomfield Collieries Pty Ltd
- BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Ltd
- Byerwen Coal Pty Ltd
- Centennial Coal Company Ltd
- Coronado Curragh Pty Ltd
- Donaldson Coal Pty Ltd
- Ensham Resources Pty Ltd
- Glencore Coal Pty Ltd
- Gloucester Coal Ltd
- Hunter Valley Energy Coal Pty Ltd
- HV Operations Pty Ltd
- Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Ltd
- Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd
- Jellinbah Group Pty Ltd
- New Hope Corporation Ltd
- Peabody Energy Australia PCI (C&M Management) Pty Ltd
- Peabody Energy Australia Pty Ltd
- Premier Coal Ltd
- Sonoma Mine Management Pty Ltd
- Warkworth Mining Ltd
- Whitehaven Coal Mining Ltd
- Yancoal Australia Ltd
Previous Coal Brainwashing Education Campaign Misfires
Previous attempts to clean up coal’s image haven’t been all that successful. There was “Coal. It’s An Amazing Thing” from 2015 that was widely panned (UPDATE: the video has been removed).
That campaign came courtesy of the Minerals Council, which apparently has close ties with Coal21 states the ABC.
Coal21 says its previous campaign messages have included building awareness of High Efficiency, Low Emissions (HELE) power, which really isn’t all that highly efficient or low in emissions – it’s not cheap either. Adding CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology will only further (and significantly) increase the cost and still won’t match wind and solar power’s green street cred.
According to a document attributed to Coal21, the campaign has been targeted:
“at men aged 18 to 39 and women aged 40 and over – “soft converters” identified by previous research as having limited information about the Australian coal industry and open to being convinced about its future role.”
Some of those in the target groups may not be too happy as being labelled “soft converters” and “open to being convinced”, which could be interpreted as “brainwashed”.
It’s not surprising a new campaign is being launched at this point as renewable energy is increasing pressure on the little black rock. Just this week the Western Australian Government announced the upcoming retirement of two coal units at Muja Power Station due to solar energy eating coal power’s lunch.
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I feel sorry for the person who did the voiceover in that 4 year old ad. She sounded genuinely enthusiastic, so she’s either an excellent voice over artist or she’s in the ‘soft converter’ category…!