The Alliance for Climate Protection is out with another Reality ad about the utter dishonesty perpetrated by the coal industry every time it promotes the term "clean coal." This one has the added attraction of having been directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, creators of some of the funniest, darkest, most engrossing films ever (Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, etc.).

They appear to have done two ads, actually, though only one has been released. It features "Clean Coal" air freshener, which of course fills the room with black smoke and noxious gases whenever used. The second ad, which is referenced in a "the making of..." video also released by the alliance, touts "Clean Coal" laundry detergent, which leaves black patches on newly laundered clothing.

Both use the tagline, "get your [blank] clean-coal clean."

Part of the attraction, for me, of these clean-coal-buffoonery ads is that they subvert the normal, not only in the content but in the meta sense: Usually, all the promotional dollars are on the industry side; they are, after all, in the money-making business. We on the other side can object to what they're spewing, but it's quite another task to fund the responses they warrant. These people are fighting back in the language most people understand, advertising.

Here's the air-fouling ad: