Environmental Groups

Radical

This category includes groups such as Earth First! and Greenpeace. Although they cover a broad range of environmental issues, they are grouped together because of their very visible and often contentious approach to issues. These groups have taken a lesson from Bernays's approach by using staged events (probably more sensational than Bernays would have approved of) to generate media coverage, a major goal of such groups. They want the widest possible dissemination of their position and message, and they are willing to go to great lengths to achieve that goal. Some examples include Earth First! members chaining themselves to trees or engaging in tree sits (camping out in a tree for weeks on end) and the presence of Greenpeace's ship, the Rainbow Warrior, whose 2003 detention in Spain caused international protests at Spanish embassies, or Greenpeace members driving dinghies around oil tankers to protest shipping too close to sensitive shores (directed not only at the oil companies, but at the government as well). Although they sometimes accomplish the goals of saving trees or coastal ecosystems, clearly these actions are designed to reach a mass audience through media coverage. The events have visual appeal and are unusual, two attributes public relations often strives for when trying to place a story. Sometimes it even appears that these groups understand media relations better than the public relations staffs charged with addressing the negative press these groups generate for the target organizations.

Animal rights activist groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), are sometimes considered radical. ALF has been known to go as far as violating laws by breaking into labs or fur farms to free animals. They are quite unrelenting in their approach to their cause, advocating vegan diets and complete elimination of all animal products.

...