In a combination of words that has no right to make any sense, mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has enlisted the help of Rick and Morty to educate the public about green hydrogen. For those who’ve forgotten, Rick and Morty is a cult cartoon that the most irritating people imaginable made their entire personality for a few months in 2017. Fortescue Future Industries, the green energy wing of Twiggy’s Fortescue, has put together a website called What The Green Hydrogen, using the main characters to put forward the idea of renewables. It’s, well, about as strange as it sounds, filtering the surreal, nihilistic aesthetic of the show through PR speak — for example:
Before we join forces to save the planet, there’s something you should know about us.
We’re owned by a mining company. A really big one. Called Fortescue.
It is one of the largest iron ore extractors in the world, and it is also a heavy carbon emitter.
But the planet isn’t going to be saved by a bamboo toothbrush company. It’s a little late for that. Our only hope is change on an industrial scale.
Predictably, the website tones down the horrific gore and relentless nihilism of the show — although there is a fight scene involving a giant worm, with a great snapping head of interlocking cavernous maws, which gets decapitated (if 12-second marketing videos made by mining companies require spoiler alerts then spoiler alert, I guess). The sequence sums up the weirdness of the whole enterprise. Rick is just there, fighting a big worm in a mechanised suit, which someone has clearly had a lot of fun putting together. But aside from depicting a “battle to save the planet”, we’re not sure we’re making the connection to the rest of the campaign.
We would give anything to know how much the company paid for all this — though we note that while they’ve sprung for the image, they haven’t secured the voice talents of Justin Roiland (as far as we can tell), who voices both characters. We guess even Twiggy money has its limits.
It’s as if The Simpsons and Family Guy were wheeled out to campaign for a responsible and accountable media. (For those under 40, both shows are owned by Fox).
I just don’t know who this is actually for? Kids will call it cringe, adults will probably see it for what it is – empty marketing. Are there that many Rick and Morty Stans out there to make this worthwhile?
Wow, it’s completely shameless! And without Roiland, as you more-or-less say Cam, it’s somewhat lacking of the whole Rick and Morty vibe.
As a longtime fan of the show it doesn’t convince me in the slightest. What a strange – and somewhat obvious – maneuver from Mr Forrest…
Sorry Charlie! I KNEW it was you, honest… *blush*
So strange! I kind of see what they were trying to do, but I feel like they didn’t really follow through on the Rick & Morty vibe with the copywriting, and the strange washed-out photo collages which feel like a completely different concept. Is the worm a metaphor? I am confused, and hungry for apples.