Provocative Global Warming Billboard Removed After One Day

By Samantha Abernethy in News on May 7, 2012 4:00PM

Chicago-based Libertarian organization the Heartland Institute has canceled its billboard campaign comparing those who believe in global warming to Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski, Charles Manson and Fidel Castro. The digital billboard of Kaczynski spent just one day on the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) near Maywood, Ill., before the organization removed it saying it "was always intended to be an experiment. And after just 24 hours the results are in: It got people’s attention."

The Heartland Institute writes:

Heartland has spent millions of dollars contributing to the real debate over climate change, and $200 for a one-day digital billboard. In return, we’ve been subjected to the most uncivil name-calling and disparagement you can possibly imagine from climate alarmists. The other side of the climate debate seems to be playing by different rules. This experiment produced further proof of that.

We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland’s friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment. We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.

The Heartland Institute said it had planned to feature Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee, the man who took hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in 2010, saying "leaders of the global warming movement have one thing in common: They are willing to use force and fraud to advance their fringe theory.”