Coal Front Group Forced To Take Down ‘Coal Carolers’ Campaign In The Face Of Widespread Scorn
Coal Front Group Forced To Take Down ‘Coal Carolers’ Campaign In The Face Of Widespread Scorn
On Wednesday, ThinkProgress reported on a holiday campaign by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a coal industry front group, featuring illustrated lumps of coal singing Christmas carols whose altered lyrics praised coal power. The campaign, which also featured a Facebook page, received widespread ridicule around the blogosphere and the press, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow devoted an entire segment to it Wednesday night.
Now ACCCE has scrubbed the “Coal Carolers” from its website; the link to the old carolers page redirects viewers to a blog post posting that “it’s time for them to go home for the holidays“:
The group’s Facebook page has also been taken down.
ACCCE did not find the mockery of its holiday campaign amusing. In fact, yesterday it published a touchy blog post defending its use of “Silent Night” — a song about the birth of Jesus Christ — to sell dirty energy. “I’ll put my years as a Sunday school teacher, church deacon and church musician up against just about anybody else when it comes to understanding hymnology and respect for religious traditions,” wrote ACCCE’s VP for Communications Joe Lucas. Nonetheless, it took down the “Silent Night” song.
If it’s true that ACCCE had intended this to be a short-lived campaign, it’s odd that they never previously mentioned that fact — and even odder that the entire campaign would have to be scrubbed from the website.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
bwahahhhahahahhahhaaaahhaaaaaa!
December 12th, 2008 at 3:24 pmGood grief. Greedy moronic bunch of lying SCROOGES.
Feh.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:25 pmAs an expert on “hymnology”(?) and “religious traditions” ACCCE’s VP for Communications Joe Lucas will no doubt be looking forward to the traditional lump of ‘clean’ coal in his Christmas stocking this year.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pmhey Annie , happy festivus to you… you’ve left some joyous zingers in the recent threads this yuletide. :D
December 12th, 2008 at 3:30 pmWill anyone miss the bituminous baritones?
December 12th, 2008 at 3:30 pmwhere exactly does coal “head home to for the holidays”? A freakin’ furnace?
December 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pmI don’t care what Joe Lucas thinks about this. I want to know what Bill War On Christmas O’Reilly thinks….OK, no, I don’t really.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pmBozo, either that or some bad kid’s stocking??
December 12th, 2008 at 3:32 pmI will. They were unintentionally hilarious. I never thought the coal industry could ‘bring teh lulz’.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:33 pmBozo The Neoclown Says:
where exactly does coal “head home to for the holidays”? A freakin’ furnace?
Home is Franklin Furnace, Ohio. Yes, there is such a town.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pmIt’s a shame, they will be missed.
But hey, maybe they’ll bring back the coal gang for Black History Month! That would be a surefire winner!
December 12th, 2008 at 3:44 pm“If it’s true that ACCCE had intended this to be a short-lived campaign, it’s odd that they never previously mentioned that fact”
Well, obviously it was only meant for the holidays, but I’m sure they expected it to last until Christmas Day.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pmAnd lo, in honor of the baby Jesus, of the wise men from the East,Caspar brought forth Gold,and Melchior brought forth Frankincense and Balthasar did bring forth Myrrh as gifts for the savior and gave them to Mary, the Holy mother.
And then did Eric arrive late on account of the traffic, being mostly sheep as usual, and he was wroth.
But then did Eric bring forth a lump of coal, that which he had been saving in case God asked him to barbecue his son, like Abraham, and he did proclaim how it was clean, and Joseph did open a six pack of Shliz and they dif rejoice.
And thus endeth the lesson.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pmHere are the original lyrics to Silent Night. I’d be curious how this group changed them to support coal. This should be hilarious!
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born
Silent night, holy night
December 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pmSon of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth “
ElBruce Says:
But hey, maybe they’ll bring back the coal gang for Black History Month! That would be a surefire winner!
___________
Indeed… perhaps they can even recast the singing coal lumps as performers in a minstrel show.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pmThey went home for the holidays? Are they talking to children? WTF?!
December 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pmBozo The Neoclown Says:
where exactly does coal “head home to for the holidays”? A freakin’ furnace?
December 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
__________
Yeah – it’s not like there are any mountains left in West Virginia that it can go back to.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pmI wonder how much they paid for that asinine ad?
December 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pmWhy, thank you, 5thEstate – and a fine and happy festivus to you as well!
I’ll be doing a pole dance later.
A FESTIVUS pole, ya buncha mooks!!(hehehe)
~ A
December 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm5th Estate Says:
And lo, in honor of the baby Jesus, of the wise men from the East,Caspar brought forth Gold,and Melchior brought forth Frankincense and Balthasar did bring forth Myrrh as gifts for the savior and gave them to Mary, the Holy mother.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
____________
Don’t forget Willie Nelson, the fourth wise man, and his gift of magic herb…
December 12th, 2008 at 4:13 pm18 – Zooey – however much it was…well, it was too much. ;o)
December 12th, 2008 at 4:13 pmI thought the whole thing was comical. It’s amazing to me that no one with authority stepped back for a second and realized how stupid this whole thing was.
No one thought it was dumb in planning. No one thought it was dumb while writing it, recording it or animating it. It’s really just bizarre.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:15 pmLeftside Annie Says:
18 – Zooey – however much it was…well, it was too much. ;o)
December 12th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Seriously, someone needs to be fired for that one. :-D
December 12th, 2008 at 4:15 pmBefore the coal caroling campaign disappears down the memory hole, let’s put a lump of coal in the yuletide stockings of all the corporate titans, and call it a retention bonus.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:20 pmHome for the holidays? Does that mean they’re back at the coal mine now living their healthy life again?
December 12th, 2008 at 4:24 pmWhere’s Lawrence Welk when the coal industry needs him?
Who needs a White Christmas? Bing Crosby in a slightly more political and possibly racist “Black Christmas”!
December 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pmHeh – Zooey – maybe they hired that same bunch of (alleged) writers who brought us the gone and unmourned “Half-Hour Comedy Hour” on FUX. ;o)
December 12th, 2008 at 4:35 pmZooey Says:
I wonder how much they paid for that asinine ad?
____________
No matter how much it was in actual pistoolas, I think it’s safe to say, Too Much!!!
Hopefully, they won’t be able to get their money back!
December 12th, 2008 at 4:44 pmThose friggin things are ALMOST as ugly as the monstrosity that was the Quiznos mascot.
Uggggly.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:44 pmYou can put lipstick on a piece of a coal….
December 12th, 2008 at 4:48 pmKayInMaine Says:
You can put lipstick on a piece of a coal….
________
Well shucks… perhaps then the GOOP would care to run a piece of coal for office sometime soon. That lump would serve as well as any other potential candidate they could find, huh?
December 12th, 2008 at 4:55 pmYou know, if every time you try to have an ad campaign it gets shouted down on the grounds that your industry is too disgusting and disreputable to just about anything representing it, you might have bigger problems than just your “message” – think the tobacco industry as a previous example.
If their message was clearly that they were pushing for more investment in potential clean coal technology, that would be fair. But that’s not what they’re after with these kinds of spots.
December 12th, 2008 at 5:11 pmKayInMaine, I was thinking much the same thing – “It’s back to the mines for you losers!”
December 12th, 2008 at 8:11 pmPutting googly eyes on ANYTHING makes it cute!
December 12th, 2008 at 9:32 pmI assume that an adequate number of copies have been made ?
December 12th, 2008 at 9:48 pmGlad those coal carolers got their comeuppance.
Now that I heard the video, I don’t think it would have made much of a hit with the kiddies–too hard to sing.
But to quote myself: If the Frosty we know has two eyes made out of coal, does this Frosty have two eyes made out of snow?
December 12th, 2008 at 10:30 pmBut, so they used “Silent Night” earlier? What did they sing, “Silent night, coaly night?”
December 12th, 2008 at 10:50 pmHowever much they paid for this campaign was too much.
Not only is it a stupid and offensive concept, it’s poorly executed. Sure, the voice actors are good singers, but the animation is crap, while still not being crappy enough to be ironically crappy (a la Robot Chicken, ferinstance). It’s a fail sandwich of fail, covered with a heaping pile of fail, a layer of fail sprinkles, and a cute little fail placed right on top.
December 13th, 2008 at 12:42 am