Art and activism in transnational environmental governance

At the 2015 Paris Summit on Climate Change, delegates may have encountered on the streets of the French capital posters mocking the hypocrisy of the polluting businesses, notably oil companies and airlines, for sponsoring the conference. Some 600 of these fake advertisements were placed by Brandalism, an international collective of artists who ‘revolt against the corporate control of culture and space’ by using ‘subvertising’ as a ‘lens through which we can view the intersectional social and environmental justice issues that capitalism creates’. One poster mocked VW, the German car manufacturer that cheated on its vehicle emission tests, with the message ‘We’re sorry that we got caught’. Another excoriating Air France carried the message ‘Tackling climate change? Of course not we’re an airline’, with an image of an air stewardess making the shush gesture. By expropriating advertising spaces such as billboards and bus stops that serve to promote company brands and consumerism, Brandalism aims to embarrass big business while encouraging the public to reflect more critically about corporate environmental malfeasance.