While the COP21 United Nations climate talks begin in France, protesters are finding new and creative ways to grab interest for their cause. Due to the ban on mass gatherings as a result of the recent terrorist attacks, artists have begun a “Brandalism” campaign which involves replacing outdoor advertising spots with art posters that target big corporations for hijacking the conference.
Over 80 artists from 19 countries have participated in the campaign by placing over 600 pieces of unauthorized art pieces in spots owned by the advertising corporation JC Decaux, a corporate sponsor of the summit.
Participants included contributions from well-known artists such as Paul Insect and Kennard Phillips, some of whom were featured in Banksy’s satirical “Dismaland” this summer. One image criticizes Volkswagen’s diesel emissions-fixing scandal, pictured below.
Art protesters refer to the recent scandal in which it was discovered that Volkswagen produced at least 11 million cars equipped with emissions test-cheating software (Brandalism.)
Brandalism, the United Kingdom-based art group, is known for using subversive ad campaigns, or “subvertising,” to “highlight the links between advertising, consumerism, fossil fuel dependency and climate change,” according to their website.
The aim of the COP21 talks includes objectives such as keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. However, Brandalism states that corporations are masking their massive pollution by becoming sponsors.
“By sponsoring the climate talks, major polluters such as Air France and GDF-Suez (Engie) can promote themselves as part of the solution – when actually they are part of the problem,” Joe Elan, co-head of Brandalism, said.
“We are taking their spaces back because we want to challenge the role advertising plays in promoting unsustainable consumerism. Because the advertising industry force feeds our desires for products created from fossil fuels, they are intimately connected to causing climate change.”
The group has produced a total of 600 ad takeovers specifically for the Paris talks.
The Brandalism display follows a demonstration on Sunday where tens of thousands of shoes were arranged in the Place de la Republique as a substitution for the march that was banned by the French government. Additionally, over 10,000 people protested the ban by forming a human chain while thousands marched in over 2,500 demonstrations abroad.
“Following the tragic events on 13th November in Paris, the government has chosen to ban the big civil society mobilizations—but big business events can continue,” said Bill Posters, a spokesperson for Brandalism, in a press statement. “The multinationals responsible for climate change can keep green-washing their destructive business models, but the communities directly impacted by them are silenced.”
Air France, one of COP21’s corporate sponsors, is confronted in this stealth advertisement. Pollutants from the airline industry have been found to directly contribute to 10,000 deaths per year from cancer and other diseases (Brandalism.)
Activists present a bold counter to “out of sight out of mind” (Brandalism.)
Climate Games aims to “turn Paris and the world into a giant, direct action playing field for climate justice” through interactive activist challenges (Brandalism.)
See the artists in action below: