Greenpeace campaigners scale the Palais in latest Cannes Lions protest
Greenpeace campaigners have scaled the Palais, the main venue at Cannes Lions, in their latest protest at the industry’s work with fossil fuel clients.
The climbers arrived on board a fire truck to highlight that burning fossil fuel is causing catastrophic global heating, with parts of Europe reaching record temperatures this week.
The Drum spoke to activists on the scene, who said that fossil fuel advertising ought to banned, ”like tobacco”, and criticized advertisers for spending millions on campaigns for fossil fuel companies and high-carbon industries such as automotive and air travel instead of greener alternatives.
Silvia Pastorelli, a policy advisor in climate change and energy at Greenpeace, said the location was chosen as “the fossil fuel industry uses advertising and sponsorship to clean up its image, delay climate action and secure political access”. She added: ”When we see glossy billboards of the latest electric cars, what we don’t see is an industry that is only interested in expanding and continuing to drill for oil until the last drop is out, until we don’t have a planet where to be creative.”
The stunt is the latest in a string of activities orchestrated by Greenpeace. Yesterday (June 22), Greenpeace France protestors stormed WPP’s beach at the Cannes Lions Festival, protesting agencies that work with fossil fuel companies.
Protestors were dressed as the dog character from the popular ‘This is Fine’ meme and approached the beach in kayaks. The protest was quickly shut down by police, however.
The beach incident occurred just days after an ad exec-turned-Greenpeace activist was ejected from the festival for disrupting the opening ceremony.