OPG ad campaign recasts nuclear

24 August 2023

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has launched a new public education campaign that uses the power of movies to tackle misperceptions of nuclear power.

OPG's campaign casts nuclear in the leading role (Images: OPG)

The Recast Nuclear campaign has been created in partnership with advertising agency Forsman & Bodenfors. Described by OPG - operator of the Darlington and Pickering nuclear power plants - as a first-of-a-kind campaign, it presents the unique benefits of nuclear power through a series of themed film posters and trailers, digital and radio adverts.

In recent years, opinions on nuclear power have started to shift with the rising challenges of climate change and energy security, but more needs to be done to educate and raise awareness of nuclear power's essential role for the future, the company said.

"For years, popular culture has distorted perceptions about nuclear power with false narratives that served to stoke fear," said OPG Vice-President of Stakeholder Relations Kathy Nosich. "This education campaign aims to recast nuclear power as a true hero of our clean energy mix. We hope this will grow understanding and acceptance of this beneficial technology that is so important to our economic and environmental wellbeing."

The campaign is designed to reflect many recent and popular blockbusters, which OPG says makes it look and sound familiar for movie fans. A video clip - styled like a film trailer - begins with an unidentified, gigantic creature terrorising a rain-soaked, neon-lit night-time city. "This is not sci-fi," the voiceover begins - before the dramatic scenes fade to an image of OPG's nuclear power plant. "This is the true story of nuclear: the safe, clean and reliable energy Ontario depends on."

The message is all about nuclear, and undoing decades of misinformation, OPG said. The campaign microsite contains information about nuclear's "leading role" in Ontario's current and future electricity mix. Movie poster-style graphics promise "other exciting nuclear titles" to come, "from medical superhero to the enabler of the electric vehicle revolution".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News