Hong Kong green group blasted for ad on LED screen as big as five tennis courts urging lights off for Earth Day
Fellow environmentalists and district councillors say raising climate change awareness on 1,400-sq-m facade is ‘contradictory’
The local branch of an international green group calling on Hongkongers to turn off their lights for an hour to raise climate change awareness has landed in hot water – for using too much electricity to do the job.
WWF-Hong Kong’s decision to place its ad this Saturday for Earth Hour 2018 on the city’s largest LED display panel drew the ire of fellow environmentalists and district councillors over its “contradictory” message.
“On the one hand they’re telling people to turn off their lights and on the other they’re advertising on ... a Hong Kong landmark of light pollution,” said Roy Tam Hoi-pong of the environmental group Green Sense, who campaigned last year against the billboard’s construction.
“This is quite contradictory.”
They’re advertising on ... a Hong Kong landmark of light pollution
Tam said local green groups were disappointed in WWF-Hong Kong, which comes under one of the world’s most influential and best resourced non-profit organisations. He urged it to pull the ad or at least “pressure the operator to shut off the screen for a week”.