Adani accused of using Getty images instead of real jobseekers to gear up public opinion for Aussie coal project

By Our Representative
According to an Australian media report, the powerful Adani Group, which is in the midst of implementing one of the world's biggest mining projects in the Queensland state, has sough to “gear up public opinion in its favour with ads from the stock images" provided by Gerry Images Inc.
America's Getty Images Inc is a stock photo agency based in Seattle, supplying stock images for business and consumers, targeting three markets – creative professionals (advertising and graphic design), the media (print and online publishing), and corporate (in-house design, marketing and communication departments).
The report, sourced on a top conservation group, comes close on the heels of the Indian mining giant announcing that it plans to start construction of a $21.7 billion Carmichael coal mine project in Australia in 2017 after years of legal delays over environmental approvals.

The ad. Source: Mackay

Melbourne-based “South Asia Times” (SAT) reports, the advertisement is headlined “No More Delays! We Want Work”, and is part of its “advertising campaign” in Queensland, adding, the top Indian group, which is based in Gujarat, is “facing flak from a prominent environment group for his controversial Coal mining project for using Getty stock images in this advertising campaign.”
SAT quotes coordinator of the Mackay Conservation Group, Peter McCallum, as saying that the Adani Group used the advertisement on October 27, 2016 in the advertising campaign to represent angry locals, is “true to form”, adding, it is “just another chapter in Adani’s sustained campaign of misinformation in a desperate attempt to build support for its controversial mining project”.
The ad campaign, running in state and regional papers, employs a stock Getty image of a “Large group of serious business people looking at the camera”, McCallum says, adding, “Adani couldn’t even find real people to go into their ad campaign. Adani’s stock and trade is misinformation and this ad campaign is no exception.”
Claiming that the “foreign-owned miner” continues to contend that its project would create 10,000 jobs when evidence provided in court, under oath, by Adani’s economic witness revealed it would only generate 1,464 additional jobs, CcCallum insists, “Even with the port and rail line factored in, the project will only create a maximum of 25 per cent of the jobs Adani claims.”

Gautam Adani in Melbourne, May 2015

“Frustrating court action is another of Adani’s catch cries, yet our case resulted in the Environment Minister conceding that he made an error in his approval of the mine and the court then set it aside.”, says McCallum, adding, “Scrutiny by the courts has unveiled Adani’s habit of making misleading claims and doing poor environmental assessments, and has at the most delayed the project by one to two years. ”
Mackay campaigner further says, “Adani is again manipulating communities this week to obtain discounts and subsidies from local governments, by playing regional cities off against each other to host the company headquarters. ”
He adds, “This foreign owned company, headquartered in Gujarat, doesn’t care about locals, our environment or the Great Barrier Reef, it cares about its profits. This is symbolized by the fact it couldn’t even find real people for this latest ad campaign.”
“If we were to run newspaper ads we’d have no trouble finding Mackay residents, indigenous representatives, farmers, reef scientists and tourism operators to have their photos taken”, says McCallum, adding, “Adani can splash all the money around it likes.”
The campaigner concludes, “But at the end of the day the mine must stand on its own two feet, not be rushed through by governments bullied into action and acting against the best interests of Queensland locals and our precious environment.”