The EU green spot during the Champions League is an own goal for Brussels
The EU under accusation for the green spot in the Champions League matches: it does not say a word about the oil bosses and sponsors of football. The article by Tino Oldani for ItaliaOggi
From Tuesday evening, during the Champions League football matches, a commercial sponsored by the EU Commission will be broadcast. The aim, Ursula Von der Leyen underlined with a tweet, is to send a message in favor of the Green Deal, the green revolution set in motion by Brussels to eliminate CO2 emissions by 2050.
Without doubt, a novelty in European political communication. But not everyone liked it: on the contrary, even before it went on the air, the spot was overwhelmed by criticism, even judged "a huge own goal". The reason? From many sides, the message is judged not only ineffective and misleading with respect to the goal declared by Von der Leyen, but even shy and complacent with the sponsors and the oil masters of European football, led by the Russian group Gazprom and the Arab oil countries. who have bought some of the most famous teams in Europe, which have quickly become the richest and most competitive.
Hence the rather heavy accusation of favoring a sort of greenwashing in favor of authoritarian countries that do not respect human rights, first of all Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign fund has just bought the English team of the Newcastle.
The commercial (43 seconds) is quite simple: it asks viewers the same question several times, "what is your trick?", Where by trick we mean the way in which each one can contain some consumption, reducing its negative impact on the climate. . In the final part of the commercial, goalkeeper Gigi Buffon demonstrates his trick, throwing a ball that enters the house from a window, turns off the lights, turns down the heating and closes the refrigerator. That's all. For critics, the commercial is misleading, as it focuses on the role of individuals, rather than focusing on the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels in a structural way. But this would have hurt the big oil sponsors of the Champions themselves and of European football, and the EU, according to the accusations, has been careful not to do so.
Pascoe Sabido, executive of the Netherlands-based Corporate Europe Observatory, a non-profit organization that works to document the effects of lobbying on decisions in Brussels, said: «Von der Leyen is telling people that we need to tackle climate change. by turning off the lights, rather than ending the dependence on fossil fuels. A huge own goal ».
Severe also the judgment of Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute think-tank, author of an in-depth study on commercial advertising broadcast during sporting events, where he shows that most of the 470 billion dollars spent worldwide each year in this sector I am in favor of businesses that operate on fossil fuels. For him, «the EU spot is a stunning mistake. These messages should not play the role of fossil fuel producers, who are part of the problem. " A clear allusion to the Russian group Gazprom, one of the main sponsors of the Champions League and some clubs that participate in it, as well as countries such as Qatar, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have bought a dozen football clubs in Europe, including PSG of Paris (Qatar) and Manchester City (Emirates).
As for Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund bought Newcastle a few days before the EU launched the green spot, the split that has arisen between some exponents of football on one side and the UEFA football authorities on the other. The latter, after having agreed with the EU Commission on the commercials campaign in the Champions League, did not say a word on the purchase of Newcastle, nor did they check the application of financial fair-play, as it should be, nor respect for human rights. , to which the UEFA Respect and all the Brussels bodies say they care a lot, at least in words. An embarrassing silence, broken by the German Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager: «There cannot be two different opinions on the concerns about human rights not protected in Saudi Arabia. There is no question about this: then why was it allowed, despite all the doubts? I was expecting official statements, but nothing happened ». Words that all the media praised, recalling that the Saudi prince Mohamed Bin Salman, on whom the sovereign wealth fund of his country ($ 500 billion), the new owner of Newcastle, is considered by a report by the US 007 as the instigator of the murder by journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which took place in 2018 in the Saudi embassy in Turkey.
Faced with criticism, reports euractiv.com , an EU spokesperson replied: "We firmly believe that, by reaching hundreds of millions of people across Europe, of all ages and walks of life, the joint campaign between the Commission EU and Uefa Respect will make a positive contribution to help tackle climate change ». And Frans Timmermans, vice president of the EU Commission and operational head of the Green Deal, stressed that the EU is acting on two fronts, both on large groups for structural changes, and on individual behavior with the commercials campaign: we will be successful if everyone does not tackle the problem of climate change, taking small individual steps ».
Clear message in words, but really incomprehensible in a commercial where Buffon turns off the light in the house and turns down the heating, throwing a ball from outside. A missed opportunity.
Article published on italiaoggi.it
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/perche-lo-spot-green-ue-durante-la-champions-e-un-autogol-per-bruxelles/ on Sat, 23 Oct 2021 05:34:59 +0000.