From Ad Man to Anti-Ad Man - Advertising As Activism

A Legendary Ad Man and A Legendary Litigator in Conversation

Author and International Forum on Globalization co-founder Jerry Mander talks about his evolution from ad man to activist with ads he wrote that changed the world in this just released interview with celebrated Washington attorney, the late James Turner, recorded in 2019.

A fascinating oral history with graphics, this is a delightful sharing of stories of exuberant activism between two exceptionally accomplished elders of our times.

Both men authored books selling in the millions, both have made social and political contributions that changed the course of history. Both are planetary treasures.

Jerry Mander is the founder of the country’s first nonprofit ad agency in 1971, Public Media Center, which ran advertising and publicity campaigns for Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and various indigenous and antiwar groups. These campaigns included the celebrated Sierra Club campaigns (with David Brower) that kept dams out of the Grand Canyon, established a Redwood National Park, and stopped production of the Supersonic Transport (SST).

Legendary litigator, Jim Turner was an original (Ralph) Nader’s Raider, who went on to found organizations and legal precedents that among many others, protected public access to organic food, acupuncture, homeopathy, redress against vaccine injury or death, alternatives to mercury in teeth and most recently, protection against harmful radiofrequency radiation beamed from satellites in low earth orbit.

He passed away January 25, 2022.

We’re honored and grateful that Jim and his life and law partner Betsy Lehrfeld have been founding board members of our non-profit organization, EON, the Ecological Options Network.