A billboard campaign paid for by the Heartland Institute to inform the public about what it views as the collapsing support for the concept of humanity’s role in climate change has backfired in a big way.

The group launched a billboard campaign last week featuring a mug shot of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski along with the words, “I still believe in global warming. Do you?”

Announcing the (very) short lived campaign, Heartland’s president said the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists.

“They are Charles Manson, a mass murderer; Fidel Castro, a tyrant; and Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Global warming alarmists include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee…The leaders of the global warming movement have one thing in common: They are willing to use force and fraud to advance their fringe theory.”

That’s strange, I always though the most prominent advocates were folks like Dr. James Hansen; who doesn’t strike me as a particularly menacing sort of dude. The Dalai Lama isn’t known for murdering folks as far as I know… and the list goes on of well-known, non-violent and respected people who accept humanity’s role in climate change.

As some clever wag on another site pointed out (can’t remember which); Charles Manson probably believes in gravity too.

The billboard caused some to screw up their noses in disgust – including some of the group’s own supporters. Heartland decided to pull the campaign less than two days after it was launched.

They are now referring to the campaign as an experiment. I looked at the original post announcing the campaign and there was certainly no mention of “experiment”. In my opinion, it’s a bit like saying “just kidding” after expressing a very bad idea that results in people looking at you as though you’re a raving lunatic. 

I think this campaign did more damage to their cause than it did to discredit the reality of climate change; so for that my sincere gratitude to the Institute – it was a job well done.

This latest incident to see the group in the headlines for all the wrong reasons follows one a couple of months ago that was dubbed by some in the media as “Heartland’s Own ClimateGate“.