Annan and Geldof launch climate change campaign

Cannes: A major climate change campaign has been launched at the Cannes Lions advertising festival this morning (June 26) by former secretary general of the United Nations and Live Aid founder Bob Geldof.

Annan and Geldof
Annan and Geldof

The “tck tck tck” campaign, pronounced tick, tick, tick to symbolise time running out, was created by Havas Worldwide and will break online today and appear on TV and press in the coming days.

It features Annan and Geldof as well as celebrities including martial arts actor Jet Li.

The campaign has been backed by the Advertising Community Together initiative and Havas Worldwide’s global chief executive, David Jones, is calling on all advertisers to feature the tck tck tck logo on all ad campaigns globally between July and December.

The ad aims to urge people from around the world to become “climate allies” and apply pressure on world leaders to reach a just and binding deal at the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Additional components of the campaign will include the release of merchandise dog-tags and a cover version featuring several actors and singers of the song Beds are Burning by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, which will be available to download free from September.

Speaking in his capacity as president of the Global Humanitarian Forum, Annan said: “This campaign strikes at the heart of ensuring the vote in December is positive, effective and viable. We want to ensure that the vote is not lost by making citizens stop, think and take action. We cannot leave it to the politicians alone.”