The tomato soup which accelerated the alienation of activists
Environmental organisations such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil play a big role in activism campaigns which have the primary goals of raising awareness about the climate emergency and bringing about individual and corporate changes of damaging behaviours. However, their digital presence is potentially harmful: to some, their online image can undermine the change they strive to make and result in divisive reactions. Maybe this is because their more extreme behaviours attract the most attention, leaving the less extreme and more common behaviours that they exhibit to go unnoticed by their online audience.
In October 2022, two activists from Just Stop Oil shared a video on Twitter of themselves throwing tomato soup onto Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in London’s National Gallery as an act of protest against the unsustainable use of oil for energy which has extortionate economic, social and environmental costs and is largely contributing to the cost-of-living crisis. They then proceeded to explain the reasoning behind their actions, explaining that they were aiming to gain “media attention to get people talking about this now”. They also clearly expressed that they did not intend to, nor did they cause any damage to the painting due to the glass protection that they were aware was covering it.
It is undisputable that the two protestors were successful in achieving this media attention. Their impactful video has reached upwards of 2 million views on TikTok and generated worldwide conversation. However, it is impossible to ignore the backlash they have received. A repetitive theme in their comment sections is that their actions were “stupid” and “meaningless” with their social media consumers focusing on the illegalities of their actions rather than their intentions. Many people feel as if they have diminished the severity of their message and endangered the integrity of climate protestors. This leaves us with the question: is the broadcasting of their extreme behaviours damaging to their reputation and the future of the planet, or is it important for creating conversation and implementing long term changes?
Their strategies are undeniably victorious in drawing attention to themselves and stimulating conversations about their group, however it is unfortunate that the media’s attention remains primarily on their actions themselves rather than the rationale behind their actions, despite their desperate online efforts to communicate these to the public. Perhaps the solution is that they must gain a higher level of control over the online activity surrounding their profiles and use their social media to direct even more focus onto the motivation behind their actions in order to better communicate their morals to the general public. On the other hand, maybe this negative publicity is a necessary part of the movement, and is needed to warn the public how serious these matters are. Sabotage is a historically successful way of bringing about social change, as proved in past movements such as the suffragette bombing and arson campaign. Maybe any attention is better than no attention when we are facing such serious global consequences as a result of staying too quiet for too long.
