EDMONTON - The group that created the controversial "Rethink Alberta" tourism boycott campaign in the United States is taking its anti-oilsands message to England.
"The objective is to put this issue on the radar screen with the public," said Brant Olson of the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, one of the groups organizing the campaign.
Eleven large digital billboards with graphic images of the environmental costs of the industry are scheduled to go up in London over the next couple days. As well, ads will run on some of the country's most popular websites.
A website on the campaign was to go live at midnight on Tuesday.
The campaign will be similar to that unveiled in the U.S. earlier this summer urging American tourists to avoid Alberta because the oilsands make the province one of the dirtiest travel destinations.
The campaign will use strong imagery, juxtaposing birds dying in oilsands tailings ponds with birds dying in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
"The images and comparisons we're trying to draw are of harm to wildlife and aboriginal communities," said Olson. "Where ever we're digging these last drops of oil, they're coming at greater risk."
Olson said such campaigns are the best way to raise public awareness around the world about what he calls the reckless expansion of the oilsands.
"The level of awareness about the tar sands is still well below the radar screen of most Americans," he said.
The group's previous campaign in the U.S. drew an angry reaction from oilpatch leaders and Canadian politicians, who pointed out the group's message contained factual errors.
They say the original message grossly overestimated the size of the affected area and didn't mention land reclamation and water use rules. The campaign was harshly criticized by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice.
But Olson says the problems in the early billboards have been fixed. He promised the claims in the U.K. ads will be more thoroughly documented.
Reaction to Rethink Alberta was strong from the public as well. Reaction got so heated on the campaign's website that the group had to suspend an online forum.
The ads were also criticized for dragging Alberta's tourism industry, which employs 100,000 people, into an issue they have nothing to do with. But one of the organizers said the target was oilsands industry, not tourism.
The Rethink Alberta campaign is sponsored by eight U.S. and Canada environmental groups.
