A Polar Bear Roaming London? No, It's Just A New Video From Greenpeace

If you thought the streets of London are dangerous now, imagine what they would be like if polar bears were roaming around.

Gangs of feral youths looking to steal trainers and TVs would seem like a picnic compared to the threat of the world's biggest land carnivore rustling around your rubbish bins.

It is a nightmare vision brought to life in a new campaign from Greenpeace, which also stars Jude Law and the bleak music of Radiohead.

But if you thought the video was designed to make you scared of leaving your house through fear of imminent bear invasion, guess again.

The ad is in fact to promote Greenpeace's Save the Arctic campaign, which the environmentalist group says "aims to protect the Arctic from oil drilling, industrial fishing and militarization".

The ad shows a hungry polar bear trying desperately to survive in London. It finally gives up and lays down to die in a park.

As Law's voiceover says: "Our leaders won’t listen to her, but they’ll listen to you. What do you have to say to those who want to destroy the Arctic?"

It is a very sad clip, which has attracted a lot of attention on the web so far. Since being launched on July 2, it has been shared almost 30,000 times across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere. The most poignant moment is when the bear reaches down to sniff at a car's exhaust pipe.

Law wrote: "As the Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are being forced to go far beyond their normal habitat to find food and look after their young.

"This film is a powerful expression of how our fates are intertwined, because climate change is affecting all of us no matter where we live.

"Right now a handful of oil companies are trying to carve up the Arctic for the sake of their next quarterly results but a global movement is growing to stop them.

"I stand with hundreds of thousands of others who think the area should be made into a sanctuary, protected from corporate greed for good."

Darth Vader Can't Gymkhana

This week we've been celebrating the Top 20 Global Social Video Ads of 2011, and while Volkswagen's The Force has undoubtely been the phenomenon of the year, there is another which vies for the crown and which has not benefitted from the full-on promotional boost of the NFL Super Bowl.

DC Shoes' Gymkhana 4 was the runner-up in this year's chart, However, unlike Volkswagen's Super Bowl ad, which was released back in February, Gymkhana 4 has only been out for just 3 months.

In fact, if we look behind the chart ratings, another story emerges.

Volkswagen (below) stole a march on other brands this year when it released its Super Bowl TV commercial a week before the event - it was launched online into the pre-event vacuum that's become something of a spectacle in itself as viewers choose to watch the ads usually because of their innovation or distinctive sense of humour.

With a 30-second TV ad spot costing around $3 million, brands compete as hard as the players on the field to score that winning hit, and with more than 100 million eyeballs to seduce, the prize for success can be huge. 

Even before the event had begun, Volkswagen had a hit on its hands, but if that wasn't enough to secure the ad's position at the top of the 2011 charts, then the intervention of Greenpeace in June sent it well on its way.

In a parody campaign of their own, Greenpeace launched "Volkswagen - The Dark Side", in which they urged viewers to "join the rebellion" against the German car maker.  

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Greenpeace Turns The Tables On Volkswagen In Star Wars PR Stunt

Photo: The Londonist

At a roundabout not so far away, the forces of the evil Galactic Empire are out in Force.

Yep, early this morning, a unit of Imperial Stormtroopers took up guard around the Old Street roundabout, in East London, and unfurled a banner.

But don't worry, we are are not about to be invaded by the Dark Side of the Force - it's actually Greenpeace's latest PR stunt. A couple of weeks ago, the international activist network put up a huge sign in Piccadilly Circus protesting against Mattel's environmental practices.

This time the target was Volkswagen - who they accuse of opposing European climate laws.

And to get the message across, Greenpeace turned the car manufacturer's record-breaking commercial The Force on its head.

As well as today's stunt, Greenpeace has also released a controversial video (below), which parodies the original ad. It even shows the Death Star with a Volkswagen logo on it destroying Earth.

And judging by the rate at which people are joining the supposed 'Rebellion', it looks like the stunt and the video have done the trick. It is currently attracting around 2,000 people every 30 minutes.

"But all is not lost," says an information leaflet. "We feel the good in Volkswagen. They have the engineers and the experience to make some of the most efficient vehicles on Earth – we’ve seen them. That’s why all of us in the Rebellion are calling on Volkswagen to turn away from the Dark Side and give our planet a chance."

To read more about Greenpeace's allegations, click here.