discourses and representations in advertisements ......greenwashing = violations of grice’s...

Elodie Vargas - Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

Climate Change : Discourses and

representations in advertisements

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

1. Definition and context

Greenwashing :

« a Disinformation disseminated by an

organisation so as to present an environmentally

responsible public image »

(the Concise Oxford English Dictionary )

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

2. Lexical characteristics

- « Klimaschutz » / klimafreundlich

- « changement climatique »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

- « Émissions de CO2 » / « CO2-

Emissionen/Ausstoß »

- « emissionsfrei » (without

emission)

- « CO2 neutral »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

3. Argumentation, climate and

Greenwashing

Greenwashing = violations of Grice’s

Conversational Maxims

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

Argumentation

Major: Climate change is caused by

CO2 emissions

Minor: The nuclear industry does not

emit CO2

Conclusion: The nuclear industry

contributes to the protection of the

environment / does not harm the climate

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

(1) «Das Kernkraftwerk Neckarwestheim 1 steht seit 30 Jahren für

zuverlässige und sichere Energieversorgung (Informationskreis

Energie)

→ «The nuclear power plant Neckarwestheim 1 has for 30 years

guaranteed a safe and sure energy supply »

(2) «Es liefert klimafreundliche Energie ohne CO2 (Vattenfall)

→ «It provides the ‘friend of the climate’ energy free from CO2 »

(3) «Dieser Klimaschützer hat dem Treibhauseffekt

entgegengewirkt, als es das Wort noch nicht gab

(Informationskreis Energie)

→ «This protector of the climate acted against the greenhouse

effect when the word did not yet exist»

(4) «Dieser Klimaschützer verhindert jedes Jahr die Emissionen

von 12 Millionen Tonnen CO2.»

→ «This protector of the climate prevents each year the emission

of 12 tons of CO2»

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

Who appreciates the most

our investments? The

climate.

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

How to generate

electricity with no impact

on climate?

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

How to optimize the

management of spent

nuclear fuel?

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

Non-respect of maxims and

objectives :

The 3D-PRStrategy : Deny, Delay, Dominate

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

(5) «Der Schutz unseres Klimas ist eine unserer

dringendsten Aufgaben»

(InformationskreisKernenergie)

→ «The protection of the climate is one of our most

urgent tasks»

(6) «Der globale Klimawandel ist eine der größten

Herausforderungen unserer Zeit.» (Vattenfall)

→ «Global climate change is one of the biggest

challenges of our time»

(7) «Stromversorgung und Klimaschutz sind für uns

kein Widerspruch. Im Gegenteil.»

→ «Energy supply and the protection of the climate

are not incompatible for us. On the contrary »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

Ist-Zustand…

vs

Soll-Zustand

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

(8) «EnBW hat die Initiative ergriffen» (EnBW)

→ « EnBW has taken the initiative »

(9) «als Energieunternehmen haben wir dabei eine

ganz besondere Verantwortung»

→ « as an energy corporation, we have a particular

responsability »

(10) «Voller Einsatz für Sie» (Vattenfall)

→ « full engagement for you »

(11) «Renault s’engage…» (Renault)

→ « Renault is committed to … »

(12) « Total s’investit dans…» (Total)

→ « Total is involved in … »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

(13) «CO2-Emissionen senken/reduzieren»

→ « reduce the CO2 emissions »

(14) «unseren Kraftwerkspark ökologisch zu

modernisieren » (RWE)

→ « to modernise our power plant park in an

ecological way »

(15) «wir investieren / wir bauen (Vattenfall) «

→ « we invest /we construct »

(16) «Areva innove […] Areva propose des solutions

pour…» (Areva)

→ « Areva innovate … proposes solutions for … »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

(17) «das modernste und effizienteste Braunkohlekraftwerk der

Welt» (RWE)

→ «The most modern and efficient lignite plant in the world »

(18) «wir wollen bleiben, was wir schon heute sind: der

Energieversorger mit dem bundesweit niedrigsten spezifischen

CO2-Ausstoß « (EnBW)

→ «we want to stay as we are today: the energy producer with

the lowest emission of CO2 at the federal level »

(19) «Mehr Umweltbewusstsein dank modernster

Dieseltechnologie» (Toyota)

→ «more environmental conscience thanks to the most modern

diesel technology »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

→ The « deny, delay, dominate » strategy in

the context of climate change and

Greenwashing :

1) Deny the fact that there is a problem within

the organisation (deny)

2) Attempt to delay or even cancel measures

taken to fight against climate change (delay)

3) Dominate the public and political

international debates (dominate).

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

→ Summing up

(a) Title : often provocative, containing a paradox

(b) Observation (Ist-Zustand):

→ before 2010 = There is a problem related to climate change or energy

reserves

→ since 2013 = the world changes and develops

(c) Logical consequence: it is necessary to reach the Soll-Zustand

→ before 2010 = find technological solutions in order to combat climate change

→ since 2013 = accomplish the energy transition in order to combat climate

change

(d) We are responsible

(e) Consequently we act and we have solutions to the problems

→ before 2010 = technical data

→ since 2013 = call for collaboration from all (included the consumer) … in

particular in a financial form !!!

(f) «we are innovating», thus «we are the best »

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

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Elodie Vargas – Gremuts/ILCEA Colloque Bergen 16-17 octobre 2015

Thank you !