Fertile Ground: New Ads Say You Don’t Have to Be a Pickle-Eating Hippie to Get Solar Panels

This election season, "green energy" seems to be a dirty phrase for many conservatives—if political ads indicate anything, at least.

Americans for Prosperity, an organization backed by oil interests, has been airing ads since November, targeting and attacking Obama’s green energy policies. The ads attempt to stigmatize renewable energy and resurrect oil in people's minds as the only possible hope for America's well-being. Obama’s ad team later counter-attacked Republican nominee Mitt Romney, accusing him of backing and protecting big, ruthless oil corporations. 

While in the last election renewable energy gained steam, this time around it is much different. Republican ad campaigns have made it their mission to turn green energy into something ridiculous, claiming that energy independence is impossible to obtain without big oil, whether or not it means ripping into national environmental preserves to “drill, baby, drill.” 

This is why solar panel company Sunrun’s new ad campaign feels like a breath of fresh, sun-warmed air. It makes fun of solar energy’s leftist hippie stigma in a way that's funny and relatable for, say, my dad. Or whoever else! These ads avoid the exhausting political rhetoric and instead treat renewable energy like any other old industry, which can have nothing but positive effects at this point. Turning green energy into a political debate fuzzes the big picture; environmental issues like this one deserve an apolitical, agenda-free discussion. People don’t need to wear hemp and attend drum circles to be part of a movement that secures the future of clean air, clean water, and healthy land. We can all be different and still work together.    

But I digress. These commercials do a good job of easing my frustration and they're also just plain funny. If nothing else, it's a good step toward breaking the wall between the two sides of the renewable energy wars. My only wish is that this ad campaign could be nationwide instead of only in select states. Watch two of the Sunrun ads below!

In this spot, a youngish man and woman discuss using solar energy not because they are "organic pickler types," but because it makes sense for them financially.

In this spot, an older woman and man discuss using solar energy not to "save baby dolphins" but to save money.

Previously: Attachment Parenting Isn't About Being "Mom Enough", Heartland Institute Pulls "Unabomber" Climate Change Billboard