Page 139 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

128 D. McKNIGHT AND M. HOBBS

power stations had low carbon emissions (Evans 2015). It also marked the
beginning of new inoculation PR campaign in that it sought to bolster the
industry image in the lead up to the climate change conference in Paris in
late 2015.
However, the advertisements were criticised for their over-the-top
claims, with the campaign widely perceived to have failed after polling
showed a drop in approval for coal (Meade 2015). The president of the
coal division of the Anglo-Australian mining and petroleum conglomerate,
BHP Billiton, Australia’s largest company, acknowledged that the coal
industry was “losing the public relations battle against activists who are
trying to shut down fossil fuels” (Ludlow 2015) and called on the global
mining industry to “step up and help improve the quality of debate”.At
the same time, one of the world’s biggest PR firms announced that it
would no longer work with coal producers and climate change deniers
(Goldenberg 2015).

CONCLUSIONS

Inoculation and persuasive PR strategies are often employed by industries
that can suffer from crisis of declining social legitimacy due to changing
social and political values and concerns. In Australia, these strategies have
been used by the mining industry to defeat governments seeking to reduce
carbon emissions. Political donations and internal lobbying have been used
to build relationships with influential politicians. Where parliamentarians
have not been receptive to industry concerns, the lobby groups and their
allies have taken their arguments to the media with the intent of bring
pressure to bear on individual politicians who must face re-election from
agitated constituents.
The mining industry has used this reward and punishment approach to
great effect, spending tens of millions of dollars on advocacy advertisements
and other PR tactics in order to bolster their public image and attack
climate change policy proposals with which they disagree. Such persuasive
strategies are not necessarily subtle or polite. Reflecting on the campaign
against the carbon tax, the former Labor Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said the
government had come up against powerful vested interests which were
determined to “smash us and smash us and smash us again … when you’ve
seen the way they operate behind the scenes, through climate change and
through mining tax issues, they are brutal, they are powerful, they are
selfish, they take no prisoners” (Chubb 2014, p. 188).