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Published on October 1, 2007

From this TV commercial it is heartening to see kids love nature, in light of the global warming crisis spurred on by human behaviour.

Still, this commercial has sparked criticism from environmentalists. The answer is not hard to find. The commercial belongs to Electricity Generating, an independent power producer that is perceived as a polluter. And the commercial clearly states that the scenes that kids see are sited around a power plant, including an artificial lake. Egco's message is a power plant can be friendly to nature.

To environmentalists, this is misleading. One of their questions is: how can a dolphin reside in a lake that is not connected to the sea? (I also would like to ask about the temperature of the water. Wouldn't it be higher than that of a natural lake?)

Obviously, this scene must come from the Khanom Egco plant, for pink dolphins are among the attractions of the sea around Khanom. With an installed capacity of 824 megawatts, the plant in Khanom district, Nakhon Si Thammarat, is the largest in southern Thailand.

The commercial follows Egco's rebranding announcement earlier this year to tell the world what Egco is and how it is committed to power generating. The company is bidding for more power plants, and public acceptance is necessary following the issuance of a new law designed to promote harmony between power plants and nearby communities.

Egco must hope that the commercial will help it achieve such harmony - absolutely essential given that the company is embarking upon a nuclear power plant.

This simple commercial has raised much criticism. I really can't imagine the titanic scale of criticism for its planned nuclear power plant.

achara_d@nationgroup.com

Due to China's national holidays, there will be no China Business Daily and hence no Business Extra today and Thursday.