Radboud University adjusts their new campaign after having received critique from multiple professors. The reason: it has not been scientifically proven that the human species is threatened with extinction.

“Are humans an endangered species too?” From now on, that will be the slogan of Radboud University’s new campaign. Earlier this week, the slogan was phrased much more firmly at the launch of the campaign during the New Year’s gathering: “Humans have become an endangered species too.”

Reactions

The reason for the revision are the reactions of multiple scientists to the new university campaign, explains director of Marketing & Communication Pim van Zanen. ‘Two professors have emailed us that they feel uncomfortable with the certainty of the message that the human species is threatened, because this claim actually lacks scientific support. And because we are a university, they think it is important to have a scientific underpinning.’

‘It is unusual that a campaign is adjusted after its launch’

Professor of Environmental Science Heleen de Coninck also told Vox that, to her knowledge, the extinction of the human species is not included as a possibility in the scenarios of the IPCC and IPBE.

‘Naturally, we are susceptible to these comments,’ says Van Zanen. ‘We could have waited for more reactions to come in, or we could adjust the campaign. We chose the second option.’

Video adjustments

So, the slogan of the campaign was changed into a question today. The change has already been implemented onto the website of the campaign. The video on YouTube will be adjusted as well. ‘Because these are just subtle changes, it will not take much effort and money to adjust the advertisements and the video,’ according to Van Zanen. ‘Besides, it isn’t until next week that the campaign will appear on NPO, NPO Start and in newspaper advertisements.’

If he is bothered by the situation? ‘Surely, it is unusual that a campaign is adjusted after its launch,’ says Van Zanen. ‘But I am happy that the scientists expressed their concerns in such a constructive way. We listened to them. I also don’t think that the changes will be at the expense of the goal of the campaign.’

Translated by Milou Aluy-van der Meij