Heartland Abandons Reason, Puts Credibility On The Line In Slanderous Ad

The Heartland Institute, a controversial group, who for long have maintained a concerted campaign to damage the reputation of climate science, has unveiled, in what could perhaps be its most ill-perceived publicity stunt, billboards featuring notorious criminals and comparing them with people who express concern about global warming.

The billboards were a promotional activity for the groups International Congress on Climate Change in Chicago later this month.

Heartland’s President Joseph Bast in a news release said, “The most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are Charles Manson, a mass murderer; Fidel Castro, a tyrant; and Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber.”

To this abysmal list he added Osama Bin Laden and James J. Lees, who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010 as other “global warming alarmists,” virtually suggesting that they were not averse to using Osama Bin Laden, in their advertisements.

In a statement the group said, “The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.”

The billboards feature mug-shots of criminals like Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, whose mail bombing campaign lasted more than 20 years and convicted murderer and cult leader Charles Manson telling viewers that they “still believe in global warming” with a tagline asking “Do you?”

The ad has generated considerable outrage and has been widely criticized. So much so, that it was even condemned by leading climate skeptic Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), who said that, unless they discontinue their ad campaign, he would boycott the upcoming Climate Change Conference.

The digital billboard was pulled down after just 24 hours, even though the group offered no apology for the ad. Bast said that the billboard was intentionally provocative to garner interest and it did manage to get people’s attention.

Heartland President Bast said, that the billboard was “always intended to be an experiment.” “We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland’s friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment. We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.”

Bart further complained that the group had spent millions of dollars and made significant contributions to debate over climate change. Yet “we’ve been subjected to the most uncivil name-calling and disparagement you can possibly imagine from climate alarmists.”

HuffPost, mocking the groups ploy for media attention have made a spoof of the ad and asked, Kim Kardashian still believes in marriage; Donald Trump still believes in great hair; Charlie Sheen still believes in winning — and we ask our readers: Do you?