Need to orchestrate a media stunt to gather attention for your cause? Here’s what others have tried:
1. Glue yourself to the prime minister. On the positive side, it’s sure to get plenty of press coverage, like 24-year-old Dan Glass garnered today after slathering his left hand in adhesive and trying to glue himself to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (Glass was protesting a potential expansion of Heathrow Airport.) On the negative side, even Super Glue takes a moment to dry, and Brown was able to wrest himself free of Glass’s gooey grip. Glass later tried to glue himself to the gates of 10 Downing Street, and that didn’t work, either.
2. Try to bring sex dolls into the Philippines. Speaking of failure, this is a surefire recipe. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tried it in December; their intention was to protest Kentucky Fried Chicken by putting the dolls under a banner reading “KFC Blows.” Only one thing stood in their way: Filipino customs officials confiscated their dolls.
3. Dress up. The Arctic Front sends out volunteers in polar bear costumes to protest oil drilling in Canada. They even have their own Facebook page and photo gallery.
4. Dress down. Upset at the number of trees felled to make Victoria’s Secret catalogs, ForestEthics protesters showed up at the company’s cross-country tour in 2004 wearing angel wings, lingerie, and wielding chainsaws.
5. Don’t bother dressing at all. Hundreds of nude cyclists rolled around the U.K. and mainland Europe last summer to promote biking as an eco-friendly form of transportation. Presumably they had no trouble staying cool, but what about the chafing?
6. Use props. In 2006, Greenpeace protesters moved a fin whale that had died in the Baltic Sea to the front of the Japanese embassy in Berlin, protesting Japan’s policy of continuing to allow whale hunting. Check out the photo gallery showing how they managed to move the massive creature.
7. Engage in naval warfare against other environmentalists you don’t like. Robert Kennedy, Jr., was sailing Nantucket Sound in August 2005, speaking to politicians, journalists, and business leaders about the need to protect the environment. Suddenly, hostile ships came close to his schooner—no, not pirates, they were protesters from Greenpeace and Clean Power Now who heckled Kennedy from their sloops for not being environmental enough for their tastes.
8. Stage a train robbery. Last month in Britain, members of Climate Camp posed as radio signal operators and gave the sequence of instructions via flag-waving to tell a coal train to make an emergency stop. More than 30 protesters then came out of hiding and shoveled the train’s cargo onto the rails.
9. Don’t let the weather get you down. Maryland residents were all set to hold a peaceful protest against global warming…and it snowed. To be fair, they were holding it in January, but the irony wasn’t lost on the angry commenters on the Baltimore Sun story. Despite their poor timing, kudos to the protesters for staying out there. After all, weather isn’t climate, and a snowy day doesn’t disprove global warming.
10. Finally, disgust as many people as humanly possible. Australian activists spent a December day lying on the floor of a shopping mall, suckling on the udder of a cow statue. Milk-drinking, they claim, contributes to evils like disease and environmental damage. Check out the news clip, if you have the stomach for it.
Images: flickr/Notariety; iStockphoto; livenews.com.au;flickr/ItzaFineDay
