Case Study

Exposing Al Gore’s Hypocrisy: From YouTube to Fox News. In April 2008, Americans for Prosperity kicked off a national grassroots “Hot Air Tour,” which exposed the high economic costs of the so-called “solutions” to global warming. 

As part of this effort, Frank helped to quickly organize a grassroots rally outside a major global warming speech that former Vice President Al Gore delivered in Washington on July 17, 2008.

Once at the rally, Frank videotaped interviews with several Gore supporters who arrived in gas-guzzling taxi cabs, apparently ignoring the official plea to “use public transportation, bicycling or other climate friendly means” to attend the event.

After all attendees had entered the hall where Gore was delivering his speech, Frank went around the side of the building to investigate what kind of vehicle the Nobel Prize Winner had taken to his global warming speech.  Shockingly, two Executive L Lincoln Town Cars and a Chevy Suburban SUV comprised  Mr. Gore’s fleet.

Over the next hour, Frank shot video of Gore’s fleet, including one of the Town Cars idling with the air conditioning on for 20 minutes before Gore’s wife and daughter got in and were whisked away.

Within a few hours, Frank had produced and posted on YouTube a short video exposing the day’s events.  After a few more hours of aggressive, targeted pitching, the video had been picked up by some of the most influential blogs in America, including Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, and eventually the Drudge Report and Breitbart.tv.   The video caught fire and picked up more than 25,000 views in the first 24 hours and more than 100,000 views within a week.

Key Result: The day after he produced the video, Frank appeared on the Fox News Channel’s Hannity and Colmes program to discuss the issue, thereby spreading AFP’s name and message to an estimated audience of more than 3 million viewers.