The Run Around

In The Run Around, our animated protagonist goes from door to door to try and find someone who can put a stop to the air pollution covering his porch, clouding his home, choking his dog, and corroding his ‘chrome’.

First, he goes to a local factory, where a grinning executive tells him that they are a community minded organisation. He points out that they have spent millions on advertising campaigns raising awareness about air pollution. At an electric company, an executive, tries to convince him that they are a public service organisation first and foremost. A public incinerator worker then points him towards a city planner, and so and so forth, we follow our confused citizen as he is put on a great run around.

At a time in the history of the USA where civil resistance and counter culture was mounting, The Run Around makes explicit some of the tactics of polluters, including greenwashing, shifting blame, and obscuring realities.