Over the course of this project, childhood memories of the 1992 animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest kept popping into my head. In this movie, a young fairy apprentice uses the magic of the “web of life” to save the Australian rainforest from an evil anthropomorphic oil spill bent on destruction. I remember so clearly being nine years old and deeply frustrated with powerful grown-ups’ inability or unwillingness to tackle the environmental devastation that weighed so heavily on my mind. I wasn't clear on what was causing the destruction of the planet—greed, ignorance, big corporations, and an evil anthropomorphic oil spill probably all seemed like plausible explanations. I could eat Rainforest Crisp cereal, put milk jugs filled with rocks in our toilet tanks, and write letters to the president, but at the end of the day I felt totally powerless and deeply angry. Adults were always telling me to “do the right thing”—so why were they allowing the planet to be destroyed? I felt like the flying fox and vivisection victim Batty, attempting to warn others about impending dangers and just getting ignored. I wished I had magical powers like FernGully's fairy Crysta so I, too, could save the earth.

My informants also grew up in the era of corporate oil spills, chemical disasters, acid rain, ozone depletion, deforestation, and, somewhat paradoxically, an increasing sense of personal responsibility for the natural environment. The iconic 1970 Earth Day poster by Walt Kelly featuring a cartoon opossum Pogo surrounded by trash broadcasts a stark message: “We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us.” My informants learned about recycling and litter in primary school from a guy dressed up in a trash heap costume, they diligently cut up their plastic six-pack rings to save wildlife, and they were bombarded with messages from promotional campaigns like Iron Eyes Cody's famous plea as he paddles his canoe through factory effluent and a discarded fast-food meal is hurled at his feet out of a moving vehicle: “People Start Pollution. People Can Stop It.”

While the “Crying Indian” ad is one of the most successful U.S. public service announcements of all time (Andersen 2013, 404), less well known is the background story of this ad campaign.