Plumbers, mechanics and other experts unite in an animated appeal for climate action from Joan

It’s not a great time for expertise. Doctors plead with the public to wear masks and get vaccinated, and election officials point to the most secure election in American history amid cries of fraud. But some experts are still trusted in a crisis—ask anyone with a backed-up toilet. “If an entire city’s worth of plumbers told you not to use paper towels when you run out of TP, would you keep flushing them?” asks a spot from Joan Creative for Science Moms, a new group of concerned mothers and climate scientists trying to rally public action on the climate crisis. To get over the hump of skepticism, “The Experts” cites more trusted authorities, like fitness instructors and mechanics. So if 99% of climate scientists agree that human activity is negatively impacting the climate, why not believe them? "Moms can notoriously smell BS, so we wanted to be pretty blunt with a message," said Bryce Hooton, creative director at Joan, in a statement. "It's a very common sense approach, but that's exactly what we need right now—common sense. Moms appreciate that. They also like to laugh, so we added the explosions and backed up sewers." Joan is part of the Potential Energy Coalition, comprised of creative, analytic and media agencies, which partnered on the new work. Illustrator Serge Seidlitz and animation studio Bewilder brought the cartoony, caricatured style to life.

Plumbers, mechanics and other experts unite in an animated appeal for climate action from Joan

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