Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool • Hacker News Board

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#121

Post by jppittma » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:04 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #97

aaomidi wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, here’s another idea: a tax on carbon. We are subsidizing fossil fuels by deferring their actual real cost to the future. We can and should stop doing that.

Who can impose this global tax you dream of? India currently is smuggling oil out of Russia because they offered a better price.

So, in any tragedy of the commons are we just going to accept that the only solutions are going to be to change the concrete circumstances that make it a one?

If not climate change, then there'll be other instances like this where what's good for the individual (country) is bad for the world.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#122

Post by bko » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:05 PM UTC

dottjt wrote: post #79

Quite literally last week I was randomly watching The Today Show (mainstream Australian breakfast television) and I couldn't believe what I just saw within the space of 5 minutes. It was the build up to the AFL grand final and there was a presenter on a football field with kids kicking footballs in the background. Anyway, he introduces the segment and it turns out it's a paid promotion for Shell. The show then cuts t…

I would love a petrol voucher. 90% of Australians have a car so it would be useful to pretty much anyone's family. It's also a somewhat inelastic good, meaning if I gave you a petrol voucher you probably wouldn't considerably change your driving habits. Maybe you would use it to go on an extra family trip, which yes gasoline bad, but it's not exactly conspicuous consumption. It would just give you some extra money in your pocket. I would much prefer that to something like a vacation voucher or a new car or some useless stuff that I wouldn't pay my own money for.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#123

Post by wiseowise » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:05 PM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #39

wewxjfq wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, the Dolchstoßlegende of nuclear energy again. The Green movement was an absolute fringe group without power that never influenced any decision regarding nuclear energy in the 20th century.

Just recently the Greens got Germany to shutter their nuclear power plants increasing their use of coal.

> in the 20th century.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#124

Post by andix » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:05 PM UTC

dottjt wrote: post #79

Quite literally last week I was randomly watching The Today Show (mainstream Australian breakfast television) and I couldn't believe what I just saw within the space of 5 minutes. It was the build up to the AFL grand final and there was a presenter on a football field with kids kicking footballs in the background. Anyway, he introduces the segment and it turns out it's a paid promotion for Shell. The show then cuts t…

Can those vouchers also be used for charging your EV? Shell is operating a lot of chargers already.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#125

Post by jabradoodle » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:06 PM UTC

JumpinJack_Cash wrote: post #91

People have the right to know from where their quality of life comes from. So if you think quality of life = cool , then it's true that fossil fuels = cool. Don't let any private jet flying tech CEO or yacht enthusiast actor tell you otherwise. They want to brainwash you to have the exclusive on fossil fuels consumption much like they want to brainwash you to pay the maximum amount of taxes while they structure their…

I'm not listening to them I'm listening to science, the discipline that has given us pretty much all our quality of life improvements.

It's suspicious how many in this thread are pointing out that fossil fuels are an essential component of society reaching the point it has. We know, that's not a revelation.

It is not the point.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#126

Post by wiseowise » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:07 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #76

boringg wrote: post #53

First question - is Fortnite even relevant anymore? The kids i know don't play it anymore been like 2 years. This shows how far behind O&G campaigns are. Unless they are trying out a marketing approach in a quiet space to hopefully build it out elswewhere.

I've just logged in to check - there is 300k people online playing across different modes. That's bananas for any game. Of course it's extremely relevant, because yes, kids you know might have stopped playing it already but there are always new kids who are trying it for the first time - and then people like me who still play it every week with friends even though we are 30+.

> That's bananas for any game.

Not bananas compared to previous popularity it had. For reference, CS:GO (or is it CS 2 now?) has 1,2 mil online at the moment.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#127

Post by tekmate » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:07 PM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #39

wewxjfq wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, the Dolchstoßlegende of nuclear energy again. The Green movement was an absolute fringe group without power that never influenced any decision regarding nuclear energy in the 20th century.

Just recently the Greens got Germany to shutter their nuclear power plants increasing their use of coal.

that timeline was decided by the a conservative government after fukushima

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#128

Post by andix » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:08 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #86

Fossil fuels are irreplaceable for what they offer at the price they ask. Don’t ask the West. Ask India that had the choice to leapfrog fossil fuels and be energy independent, at higher cost. People don’t care about our opinions. They want the cheapest options. The only way to transition out of fossils for energy, is to make the alternatives cheaper and easily accessible. US transitioned from coal to gas within 10 ye…

I live in "the west" and I can contribute to change there. So I do. Try to change what you can change, instead of thinking about what you can't change and not doing anything.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#129

Post by imchillyb » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:11 PM UTC

snthd wrote: post #98

HELL IN THE NIGER DELTA - DOCUMENTARY https://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/single-post/hell-i... (embeds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z64LV-BSwDs ) >One of the most polluted areas on the planet, the Niger Delta has a life expectancy of just 41 years due to decades of Shell oil spills & constant gas flaring.

> One of the most polluted areas on the planet, the Niger Delta has a life expectancy of just 41 years due to decades of Shell oil spills & constant gas flaring.

That's a single data point, that contributes less than environmental factors, skyrocketing populace, low instances of vaccination and healthcare.

> The top three leading causes of death in Niger in 2017 were malaria, diarrheal diseases and lower respiratory infections. Comparatively, in the United States, the leading causes of death are heart disease, cancer and accidents.

> https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-life-expectancy-in-...

There are /numerous/ reports that state what this project states with much more clarity and decades of numerical data gathering.

Spills and gas flaring don't even make it to the top 10 life expectancy issues of the Niger Delta.

Re: Shell using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to convince kids fossil fuels are cool

#130

Post by hnlmorg » Sat, Oct 07, 2023, 1:11 PM UTC

diogenes4 wrote: post #67

hnlmorg wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been the case for a hundred years already. It is why Santa is dressed in red. Why people buy diamond engagement rings. Why cigarettes were readily available for literally decades after they were already known to be harmful. And why American gun control laws have never matured despite all the evidence that proves the status quo isn’t viable.

> And why American gun control laws have never matured despite all the evidence that proves the status quo isn’t viable. Tbh I don't think this has anything to do with marketing. Guns are just a part of our culture regardless of whether we want them to be or not. If we were capable of changing this we'd be capable of doing a hell of a lot of other things, too, instead of sitting on our hands and loudly babbling about…

And culture is driven by marketing. Which comes right back to the point I was making.

If gun culture was so fundamental to peoples beliefs then the NRA wouldn’t need to spend as much on lobbying as they do. The entire reason that culture hasn’t changed in the last hundred years is because of marketing, not in spite of it.