Who cares?

May 11, 2011 5:43 PM

Coal cares! "Puff-Puff™ inhalers are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant, and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost of the asthma medication itself."

Not really. Coal Cares was really brought to you by a group called Coal is Killing Kids (that apparently doesn't have a website) with the help of the (oft previouslied) Yes Men. Peabody's press release, however, is apparently real.

posted by cmoj (23 comments total)

cape not included.
posted by clavdivs at 5:45 PM on May 11, 2011

Their Kidz Koal Korner is brilliant. Also, "We at Peabody want to make Asthma-Related Bullying (ARB) a thing of the past."
posted by hermitosis at 5:47 PM on May 11, 2011

LOLOLOLOLO-*kaff-kaff-kaff-kaff-wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze*
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:49 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

Even more impressive? That Peabody press release, which is a study in obfuscation and careful deflection, still contains at least one blatant falsehood. This: "the World Resources Institute found that for every 10-fold increase in per-capita energy use, individuals live 10 years longer."

Earlier today, the World Resources Institute issued a rebuttal: "First, WRI has never made such an assertion and has never done analysis to that effect. Second, this conclusion ignores critical factors related to energy production and human health."

So yeah, even when they're trying to spin truth into truthiness, they wind up just plain old lying. Second nature in the coal biz, I guess.
posted by gompa at 5:57 PM on May 11, 2011 [6 favorites]

Well, people in the coal industry are under a lot of pressure.
posted by Flashman at 5:59 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

__ days since a fatal industrial accident
posted by Sys Rq at 6:00 PM on May 11, 2011

Remember kids, Coal kills humans, not birds.

(it's always amused me that steampunk fans completely ignore the particulate pollution factor)
posted by Old'n'Busted at 6:02 PM on May 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

So they're going with the "You do like electricity, don't ya?" defense? Really?

Sadly, it seems to work quite well. Although when faced with it, I then tend to want natural gas or nuclear baseload power...
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:05 PM on May 11, 2011

What's particularly sad is that much of what's on the site is only just barely on the 'parody' side of the line. I look forward to the day when someone uses one of these arguments seriously.
posted by twirlypen at 6:22 PM on May 11, 2011

Seeing as I live in the Paris of Appalachia I'm pretty sure that I live within 200 miles of 200 coal plants.
posted by octothorpe at 6:50 PM on May 11, 2011

(it's always amused me that steampunk fans completely ignore the particulate pollution factor)

I remember when I across a building in an old industrial city that had obviously stood through most of the 1800s. The building's face was black and shiny like a lump of coal. Not just a little darkened, not just stained here and there, but completely and thoroughly black. I'm sure the source of the coal smoke - likely a furnace - was closer than power stations are now to most folk, but it was still a shock. I enjoy seeing old buildings cleaned up and rescued from their smudgy, dirty past, but I hope they leave that one building uncleaned for the sake of future generations who might question the wisdom of pollution controls (and any ignorant steampunks).
posted by Jehan at 6:51 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Things can occasionally get depressing here in the office, but at least I don't have Meg Gallagher's job. Can you imagine?
posted by eugenen at 6:54 PM on May 11, 2011

Sometimes satire is so easily spotted. Before I even clicked "more inside" it took me two seconds to say, "Yes Men."
posted by fungible at 7:06 PM on May 11, 2011

The other day I stumbled on this photo of water before and after filtration in 1903 Philadelphia. The unfiltered water is black with coal dust. I have no idea how anyone drank anything like that.
posted by sepviva at 7:33 PM on May 11, 2011 [6 favorites]

Man. I believed it. It was those cute little inhalers - they're so familiar, and I never thought that kids would want one with Justin Beiber on it. But they would, wouldn't they? My inhaler can't have Beiber or Gaga on it, but that's only because I'm over 50.
posted by sneebler at 7:59 PM on May 11, 2011

it's always amused me that steampunk fans completely ignore the particulate pollution factor

Already dealt with. Steamboy and Girl Genius had that all sorted aeons ago...
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:01 PM on May 11, 2011

Well, people in the coal industry are under a lot of pressure.

I believe thats the diamond industry.
posted by hal_c_on at 9:54 PM on May 11, 2011 [4 favorites]

I read the headline and thought "This has to be the Yes Men. No coal plant or mine owner would give that much of a shit about the people living nearby."

Sadly proven right.
posted by Hactar at 1:43 AM on May 12, 2011

I remember when I across a building in an old industrial city that had obviously stood through most of the 1800s

Pay attention when walking around in an old coal city like London. Many buildings appear to be made of black bricks. That blackening is all from coal.

I'm not sure how many people know what 'London Fog' really meant.
posted by vacapinta at 2:07 AM on May 12, 2011

I'm not sure how many people know what 'London Fog' really meant.
If the sun don't come, you get your tan from standing in the English rain.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:30 AM on May 12, 2011

I love the Yes Men, and have contributed to various RTMark project funds for more than a decade...but I find it so sad that what started out so surreal, is now almost believable. I mean, remember when some of the Yes Men projects were so ridiculous that the funniest part was that anyone actually believed them in the first place? SurvivaBall. Gold spandex "manager suits" with built in phallic monitors for "overseeing employees". Nobody, outside the oxygen depleted hotel conference rooms where these sorts of meetings are held, could possibly believe that Halliburton was seriously proposing a giant balloon suit...that's what made it so funny.

What sucks is that coal plants *ARE* so bad that this particular culture jamming stunt feels more like the Onion than the Yes Men.
posted by dejah420 at 7:11 AM on May 12, 2011

They ought to have an Advair cartoon character too (Advairy?). Puff the Inhaler is truly child's play if you've got serious asthma going on. However, "ADVAIR® won't replace a rescue inhaler."
posted by blucevalo at 8:56 AM on May 12, 2011

Is Advair the one where in the list of side-effects in the commercial, they list "asthma-related death"?
posted by Sys Rq at 10:52 AM on May 12, 2011