Greenpeace, the non-governmental environmental advocacy group, has launched a new protest against German car maker Volkswagen. The organization has a long history of railing against companies they believe to be harming the environment. With growing concerns regarding climate change, many nations are drafting new laws to help combat the phenomena.
The European Union is currently considering two climate-oriented laws that would put strict regulations on carbon emissions and require car manufacturers to make more efficient vehicles. Greenpeace believes that Volkswagen is participating in a campaign to derail the progress of these two laws.
Group members have been passing out flyers in cities throughout Britain to raise awareness of the issue. The flyers are making use of iconic images from the Star Wars franchise, depicting Volkswagen as the villainous Darth Vader. R2D2, the memorable droid from the movies, is also featured on the flyer, with a prominent QR code painted on his chassis.
When scanned, the code resolves to a website where people can find information regarding what Volkswagen is doing to combat new emissions laws. Volkswagen officials dismiss such claims as unfounded, but Greenpeace asserts that the issue is very real and the car manufacturer is just one of many who try to offset environmentally friendly laws.
The problem with the website is that it is not optimized for mobile viewing, meaning that users will have very little patience navigating the site from the mobile devices. Since the campaign relies heavily on QR codes to spread its message, this may be a mistake that will cause the effort to flounder.