Some people are being a bit sniffy about Bob the squirrel – being so open-minded I can see why, and I can see why they are wrong (in my humble opinion – as people say when they are anything but humble).
The RSPB is using Bob to stand for nature and will simply use the fact that lots of people vote for Bob to try to impress politicians with the public desire for nature to feature in the election manifestos before the next UK general election. This is a good idea and an important one too.
Don’t, for heaven’s sake, hesitate in signing up because you think that Bob ought to have been a bird, or female, or less cute. Save your picky questions for Nigel Farage – Bob is a symbol not a candidate for being the next Prime Minister.
Therefore Bob stands for Roberta the squirrel too, and for Phil and Liz the Hen Harriers, Dave and Sam the Basking Sharks, Ed and Justine the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, Nick and Miriam the Wood Crane’s-bill and even Nigel and Kirsten the Red Mason Bees.
I think the RSPB has made two mistakes with Bob. The first is in underestimating the wildlife-loving public’s ability to quibble about the fact that Bob is a cute Red Squirrel and not a ‘fill in the blank here’. But there will be those in The Lodge who are saying, right now, that this is part of the RSPB’s brand-shift strategy and therefore it’s worth the pain.
But second, Bob is so ‘motherhood and apple pie’ (which reminds me – I haven’t had apple pie for ages!), that the opportunity should have been taken to make ‘Vote for Bob’ a wider campaign involving lots of wildlife NGOs. Too much, does a vote for Bob look like a vote for the RSPB rather than a vote for nature as a whole – and that is a missed opportunity.
However, ‘Vote for Bob’ is a good idea, and I say again, an important idea. Looking around the websites of other wildlife conservation organisations I cannot see anything else as important, or relevant, or imaginative to attract our attention at the moment. Bob is the only decent game in town.
And therefore I ask you again to Vote for Bob and to sign up to his thunderclap too (if you are on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr).
[registration_form]
Will Bob get on the leaders debate?
Bring it on, ‘green blob’ bob?
Hi Mark
I think the third mistake the RSPB have made with this is doing it a time when many of their supporters have been energised by campaigns on Malta and Hen Harriers. The Society has appeared to be a bit slow in supporting these campaigns and it’s position on Hen Harriers is shamefully apathetic. Instead of getting fully behind these campaigns it has put time and money into Bob. Mobilising 100k to sign the ban driven grouse shooting petition would trigger a parliamentary debate, a much more direct message that voters care about the natural world.
I tweeted that I found Bob a pointless exercise. If the fact that there are over 1 million RSPB members isn’t already impacting politicians’ thinking (and some of them do think, or so I’m told) then why will 100k supporting Bob help? Only a massive increase in the Green Party’s vote will focus the thinking of the main parties (just as UKIPs rise has pushed Europe and Immigration back to the top of the political agenda). How many of those who voted for Bob will vote Green next May?
BTW, I still support the RSPB and will continue to do so. I will even vote for Bob but I do so wishing as much effort was being put into more tangible campaigns.
All the best
Like many in the political arena, you forgot Caroline and Richard, the natterjack toads!