The simple marketing mistake that opens the door for climate change deniers

Climate change denial

Here’s the headline from an article recently about climate change:

Rising global temperatures: when will climate change deniers throw in the towel.

Firstly, I’m not an expert, but I believe the experts – the 99% of scientists who informs us of the climate change reality. I also think it is an amazing startup and financial opportunity to decarbonise our economies and invent new revenue regimes around renewable energy sources.

The article I refer to above talks about last year being the hottest on record. But, whenever reports like this one refer to very recent weather events, they make a mistake that climate deniers can feed on. Through focusing on recent weather events, it allows deniers to use similar data from recent extreme cold events as a form of counter evidence. ‘Well, last year we had record snow falls in Colorado.’ While anyone with limited knowledge can see through this counter claim, it can create doubt in the less knowledgable and fearful. The same people who generally hate change. Remember change is bad! [sic]

Yes, the article does go into detail about the longer term trends (which is what really matters), but through focusing on recency, so can the deniers. They can sow a seed of doubt. I’m not suggesting that the facts should be ignored. But given climate change has moved beyond a scientific debate, and into the marketing realm it should be less about all the facts, and more about the shifts we need.

Sometimes the best marketing is about the facts you leave out. When we want to motivate people to believe and act, it isn’t just about getting the facts out there. Instead it is about using facts our competitors can’t counter and winning the mind games instead.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.