Diageo to end funding of
Heartland Institute after climate change outburst
guardian.co.uk
^ | Sunday 6 May 2012 12.15 EDT | Leo
Hickman
Diageo,
one of the world's largest drinks companies, has announced
it will no longer fund the Heartland Institute, a
rightwing US thinktank which briefly ran a billboard
campaign this week comparing people concerned about
climate change to mass murderers and terrorists such as
Osama bin Laden, Charles Manson and Ted Kaczynski.
On
Thursday, a billboard appeared over the Eisenhower
Expressway in Illinois showing a picture of Kaczynski, the
Unabomber, who in 1996 was convicted of a 17-year mail
bombing campaign that killed three people and injured
dozens. The caption read: "I still believe in global
warming. Do you?" A day later it was withdrawn.
The
London-based drinks giant, which owns brands such as
Guinness, Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Moët &
Chandon, said this year that it was "reviewing any further
association with Heartland" following the release online
of internal Heartland documents which revealed its
corporate donors as well as a plan to promote an
alternative climate change curriculum in US schools.
Following the widespread outcry triggered by Heartland's
billboards, a Diageo spokeswoman told the Guardian: "Diageovigorously
opposes climate scepticism and our
actions are proof of this. Diageo's only association with
the Heartland Institute was limited to a small
contribution made two years ago specifically related to an
excise tax issue. Diageo has no plans to work with the
Heartland Institute in the future."
In
March, General Motors, the world's largest carmaker, said
it was ending its funding of Heartland after 20 years
owing to the thinktank's climate scepticism.