Diageo pulls Heartland funding

Beverage multinational Diageo has pulled its funding of the climate change-denying Heartland Institute following a controversial ad campaign that compared belief in climate change with mass murder. Diageo – which says it had already started to review its association with the free-market pressure group after this year’s leak of documents showing its approach to promoting climate change denial in schools – has now publicly severed links with the organisation after it ran a billboard advertisement showing the infamous ‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski with the caption, “I still believe in global warming. Do you?” Heartland had also put out a factually inaccurate press release claiming that “most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants and madmen”. Diageo says it opposes climate scepticism and that its involvement with Heartland was always limited.