How visual storytelling can reshape environmental policy
By Jennifer Humphries and Matthew Dawson
Attenborough’s acclaimed new film Ocean is a timely and powerful intervention as world leaders prepare for the UN Ocean Conference in Nice this month.
Presented as the ‘biggest message’ Attenborough has ever told, the film reveals what’s really happening in our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Shocking new footage shows us destructive bottom trawling decimating a once pristine seabed, while industrial fishing supertrawlers compete side by side with orcas and humpback whales for food.
Ocean follows a long series of films hailed for using visual storytelling to reveal uncomfortable realities. From Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in 2006, which fired a starting gun on awareness of the climate crisis, to 2013’s Blackfish about the plight of captive marine mammals, to this year’s acclaimed Netflix drama, Adolescence, about toxic online culture.
The potential of films like Ocean to help bring often intangible issues to the public is clear. As campaigns expert Chris Rose has written "most people have an in-built preference for receiving information visually.” Adding that “visuals can reach our emotions, bypassing argument….'It was when I saw X that I realised things were serious'”.
It is this powerful impact that drove policy announcements on plastic waste after Blue Planet 2 aired in 2017, led to the US Congress introducing the Strengthening Welfare in Marine Settings (SWIMS) Act after Blackfish, and triggered a nationwide debate that resulted in a Prime Ministerial roundtable to discuss online safety following Adolescence.
How can documentaries lead to meaningful policy change?
Attenborough’s Ocean seems well-placed to mirror the success of these past films. It my therefore seem surprising that there have been growing numbers of leaders in the marine sector raising concerns that it may not do enough to shift the needle on ocean protections.
Concerns that Ocean “felt like a tribute, not a rallying cry” speak to the challenge of ensuring films aren’t limited to a shift in public discourse but lead to the policy interventions needed for real change. So, what can campaigners do to amplify the impact of documentaries?
Deliver data driven insights which provide evidence to policymakers to support the emotional case made in a film. Oceana’s recent report ‘The Trawled Truth followed in the days of Ocean’s release and proves the scale of the damage shown in the film, with over the 20,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling discovered in UK MPAs over 2024.
Build a strong accompanying social media strategy like Blackfish #EmptyTheTanks social media campaign, which spread the message and pressure on SeaWorld to end their marine mammal shows.
Ensure that there is clear public action. A good place to start is to ask whether a film sets out a clear sense of the responsible party, the policy solution to these harms, and the action the public should take to demand this from Government? A positive recent example is the Oceana, Blue Marine Foundation and Only One campaign action which allows the public to send an email to Environment Secretary Steve Reed to ban bottom trawling in UK MPAs (you can add your support here).
Identify political champions who can take the case to the Government directly. It is positive that there are supportive MPs for stronger marine protections in Parliament. Labour MP Katie White is using Ocean to mobilise MPs around her Ten-Minute Rule Bill to prohibit bottom trawling from MPAs as it progresses through Parliament.
Delivering change through documentaries and video
As Ocean starts streaming on Disney+ on World Ocean Day next month, many millions more will hear this crucial message about the wonders and fragility of our seas.
Hopefully, following determined work by many campaigners, what Astronaut Tim Peake calls “the most powerful call to action yet by Sir David”, will join that select group of previous documentaries in capturing political, as well as public attention.
If you would like support in your own organisation’s campaigning and advocacy on the ocean or other environmental campaigns, do get in touch with our marine leads Matthew Dawson mdawson@seahorseenvironmental.co.uk and Jenn Humphries jhumphries@seahorseenvironmental.co.uk