Shane Meadows directs government anti-climate change ad

Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday September 17 2008 16:45 BST

Shane Meadows, the director of This Is England and Dead Man's Shoes, has directed a £6m TV ad campaign on climate change for the government.http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/sep/17/advertising.climatechange


The TV ad campaign, created by ad agency AMV BBDO, features a father confronted by an enormous energy bill who tries to get his family to switch off lights and appliances, reducing bills and cutting CO2 emissions as a result.
The TV campaign, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs "Act on CO2" initiative, follows the launch of a £1bn government scheme last week to help consumers cut heating bills.
For Meadows the campaign follows developing the acclaimed Somers Town film in partnership with ad agency Mother and Eurostar, and a TV campaign for Asda.
"Apart from the fact that I really liked this campaign because it's funny and well written, I was also interested in making some films that might make a difference to the way people behave," said Meadows.
"I've no doubt about how serious the whole climate change issue is and no one can afford any longer to sit around and pretend it's not happening".
Statistics from the Energy Savings Trust's Act on CO2 advice line show that since the government launched the scheme late last week the number of calls has "more than quadrupled".
"Last week we set out assistance to help people cut their energy bills permanently," said the environment secretary, Hilary Benn. "We now need to do all we can to ensure they take up this help. This advertisement is part of that drive."