UK based sattirest Oli Frost, who is likely most well known for playing hip hop tracks on the recorder in front of Simon Cowell on Britains Got Talent also has an interest in sustainability. On his Youtube channel ‘Oli Frost Refrosts the Planet’ he has a number of videos discussing recycling, environmental activists, and other subject matter not obviously related to the climate change sphere. On September 19th, 2021 Oli Frost released an openly accessible Youtube video and shared it on his social media for “International Talk like a Pirate day”. The video titled “The Pirate Emergency (Sea Shanty) | International Talk Like A Pirate Day 2021” he performs a song to expose aspects of climate change on the ocean (Frost, 2021). In the apparently trivial music video with just over 1000 views weeks after publication, Oli Frost equates the climate emergency in relation to pirates. In the 1 minute and 48 second video he references sea level rise, single use plastics, overfishing, politics and well known climate activist Greta Thunberg.
One aspect of Oli Frost’s video that interested me was the reference to climate change communication in his song lyrics ”just write a jaunty sea shanty, to make your point seem less preachy”, and that messaging should have a positive spin (Frost, 2021). Many climate change related videos that I have seen have a seemingly doomsday, or fearful approach. He shares a song which describes pirates being excited by sea level rise to expand their territory, to then being influenced and educated by a climate activist, and finally following a more sustainable approach involving conservation (Frost, 2021). The song and music video is produced as user generated content for online audiences- particularly his instagram and youtube following, which in terms of online influencers is not very large. On the creators YouTube platform he has less than 500 subscribers, and a total of 126,000 views on his content. However, younger audiences on YouTube seem to prefer amateur produced videos such as this one (Allgaier, 2019). music video itself has a low budget, home video feel, with the use of props such as a measuring tape to indicate sea level rise, or Oli Frost wearing a costume pirate hat. As an instagram follower of Oli Frost, I first saw this video on my home feed. The video being shared on social media makes it very accessible, easy to share and for users to engage with. As Oli Frost doesn’t have many followers, it would be likely that all comments or questions regarding the content would reach him. As he shares lots of content online in an open way, I would venture that he creates videos like this one in hopes that it would spread virally to gain fame and spread awareness.
| Techniques/Approaches discussed in Climate change communication literature | How did the content/creator use this technique? Was it effective? | What could be improved? |
| Positive, motivating and clear actions provided in communication to encourage engagement and action (Moser, 2016) | The music video has a silly but albeit positive toneOli Frost uses a well known “third party”, pirates, to effectively translate and communicate oceanic climate impacts There is no call to action or recommendations to viewers, however this may be intentional | Suggesting a few easy options for people to consider doing or a call to action, however this may be deliberate |
| User generated content (infotainment) vs professionally designed communication (Davis et al., 2020) | This video falls under an infotainment style narrative Would likely have a higher likeability from viewers, along with higher recall of information however due to the style of video and low view count the perceived believability, especially by those with academic backgrounds would likely be lower. However, as the video does not provide specific statistics or figures, the engaging and humorous style of infotainment content may be viewed positively as there is little scientific matter to argue against | Increasing viewership may increase perceived legitimacy of the video Labelling or framing the video as regarding climate change more closely could expose it to more people |
| Dispelling misinformation, or misinterpretation of information regarding climate change. Not creating victims/heros. (Lewandowsky, 2021) | The video’s messaging conveys an understanding of why climate change is affecting the ocean, rather than how. In a few lyrics he goes from plastic straws, to fishing nets to alluding to overconsumption that occurs in a capitalist system Oli Frost relays that the “fishermen [who are littering fishing nets and contributing to the great atlantic garbage patch] are the victims of an economic system.” | Viewers not familiar with plastic pollution in the ocean may not understand the references, providing corresponding notes/more visuals or references may could provide more information to viewers |
The video has no call to action, or recommendations for viewers who may be interested in taking part in environmental stewardship. The video itself at first glance looks like it has more to do with goofy pirates than anything, so if someone was looking for information on climate change they may not click on it. However in the description, Oli Frost does share that the music video touches on how climate change will affect pirates. Using pirates on “talk like a pirate day” is an interesting approach as maybe youtube users engaging in other pirate related content may come across this video, and become engaged in a climate conversation. Utilizing pirates, rather than another demographic or specific groups is in itself interesting as pirates may be able to bridge socioeconomic or cultural divides as using a funny or unrealistic medium to engage with content may make it feel less directed and more comical in nature. However, according to Ettinger et al., (2021) an extremely optimistic or pessimistic tone is rather insignificant in encouraging viewers to pursue climate change action following viewing a video. The satirical nature of the music video makes use of clever language in a few short verses to translate an abundance of climate science. For example, the chorus states “it’s a pirate emergency” repeatedly, instead of the more common phrase of declaring a climate emergency, which sounds much more ominous.
Rather than explaining ocean acidification, the greenhouse effect, and so forth- the narrator frames the song around people and how behaviours and ideals can shift in light of the changing environment. As seen in the Viable Cities project in Sweden, providing relatable narratives and content helps people to relate to and understand how climate change will affect them personally (O’Sullivan, 2019). I think that finding a format for climate communication that excites or entertains people, such as this video is an important aspect for educating and engaging folks in climate action. We have seen that purely scientific pieces do not elicit a strong understanding, while user generated content on social media may have an abundance of traffic but less accurate or pressing environmental messaging. Seeing creative approaches, targeted at online audiences that can provide a laugh and a memorable piece of information such as Oli Frost’s interpretation may have potential in online climate communication, if not only an icebreaker.
References
Allgaier, J. (2019). Science and Environmental Communication on YouTube: Strategically Distorted Communications in Online Videos on Climate Change and Climate Engineering. Frontiers in Communication, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00036
Davis, L. S., León, B., Bourk, M. J., & Finkler, W. (2020). Transformation of the media landscape: Infotainment versus expository narrations for communicating science in online videos. Public Understanding of Science, 29(7), 688–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520945136
Ettinger, J., Walton, P., Painter, J., & DiBlasi, T. (2021). Climate of hope or doom and gloom? Testing the climate change hope vs. fear communications debate through online videos. Climatic Change, 164(1–2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-02975-8
Frost, O. [Oli Frost Refrost’s The Planet]. (2021, September 19). The Pirate Emergency (Sea Shanty) | International Talk Like A Pirate Day 2021 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0XGC2-d9Gg
Lewandowsky, S. (2021). Climate Change Disinformation and How to Combat It. Annual Review of Public Health, 42(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090419-102409
Moser, S. C. (2016). Reflections on climate change communication research and practice in the second decade of the 21st century: what more is there to say? WIREs Climate Change, 7(3), 345–369. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.403
O’Sullivan, F. (2019, November 11). To Survive Climate Change, We’ll Need a Better Story. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-11/meet-sweden-s-chief-storyteller-for-climate-change