Clean As In Coal?

Sienna Scheid

Clean is soap. Clean is Clorox. Clean is coal Or so they say. And that was exactly the problem for the coal industry. Coal is dirty. Really dirty. And coal kills about 66 people per day in the US1. Understandably, support for giant smokestacks that puff mercury, sulfur dioxide, the notorious carbon dioxide, and even arsenic into the atmosphere was at an all-time low. Even in coals birthplace, the Appalachians, public support was in the toilet. Coal had to make a comeback, and quick. What the industry decided on was a marketing campaign to bolster support by making coal appear cleaner. The clean coal campaign was launched in 2008 to salvage an increasingly unpopular source of energy. Funded by coal power-plants, their subsidiaries, the Union Pacific railroad, and The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the project dumped $40 million1 into a publicity campaign that is considered widely successful. From billboards to YouTube videos, clean coal was everywhere. Perhaps the most wide-spread tactic was the clean coal advertisements scattered across the internet. Among the most recognizable is a simple depiction of an orange electric cord plugged into a piece of coal. Above reads Clean coal. Now is the time. in a common sans-serif font, colored pale blue and green. The image is very concise and very well, clean. It especially draws the eye to the coal and the plug situated in front of a pristine white burst which fades into
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Miller, G. Tyler and Scott E. Spoolman. 17, Living in the Environment: Edition. Cengage Learning, 2011.

a delicate blue. The orange plug is obviously a power cord and seems to illustrate the massive electric potential stored in a single clump of coal. Orange like construction, energy, capacity, and promise. On further inspection, there isnt any coal dust smudging the backdrop, and it appears to be anthracite, the highest quality and least abundant grade of coal. Accordingly, the coal is a smooth and polished black. I did a double take when I first saw the ad; brain twitching and jaw slackening. The demure organic colors and straightforward text swamped my reasoning capacities. Was this an ad put out by an environmentalist group? It certainly looked like one. Was it a call for cleaner coal power plants? I wondered if it was supposed to come across as a sarcastic attack on the coal industry but it was just too straightforward. Now is the time. They wanted change too! If I hadnt Googled clean coal I wouldve ended up like the target market for the ad: confused but comforted that clean coal is a science fiction miracle (because if an environmental group supports something as horrific as coal you get the idea.) The ad is just so simplistic that you find yourself immediately trusting it. There doesnt seem to be any misleading context. Coal provides power, and that power is clean. Anyone can reason that. Its ethos and logos all rolled into one; a lasso of credibility and logic that loops and reigns in the people like fat calves chased by an taut cowboy astride a massive stallion. Theres nowhere to run! Some people might be attracted to the subtle font or the graceful curve of the orange cord. Others might hold a soft spot for shiny black objects. More perceptive individuals may appreciate the money puffing out of coal power plants, or the sooty skies that block out scorching July sun. Perhaps a select few harbor

affectionate memories of coal stuffed down stockings and sooty warmth from the ungraceful combustion of peat moss. What Im trying to say is, theres obviously very little to bond with in this ad. However, there is a little pathos to eek out yet. Clean energy. We all want a greener future, no matter how often we act otherwise. Clean Coal is a cry that could rally anyone. We want it so badly to believe that we will it into existence. The notion of coal being clean is ridiculous. We all know it is sooty and icky. Coal is the epitome of filth, pollution, grime. Yet somehow this ad has snuck its way around that unsavory image and presented coal as sustainable, powerful, and even clean. Maybe it is the color scheme, or the orange power plug, or perhaps the simple now is the time. Or maybe it isnt really any of that. Maybe its us, the American people, who just want something to believe in. We want energy that can sustain our childrens children. Well even let ourselves believe that coal could be that energy, even when most know that will never be the realistic solution. Coal isnt clean. The advertisement is full of holes and is sordidly deceptive. Yet it works. The designers of the ad were very clever when they created it. They knew that they didnt have to sell coal using facts or credibility. They didnt even have to put much sentiment in it. They just had to use one word, so supercharged with connotations and emotion that it would blow all doubt out of the universe. Coal clogs up your lungs, punches holes in plants (acid rain), stains streams, heats up the troposphere, and strips the tops off mountains. But incredulously the ad is successful. I mean, coal is clean Right?