Summer Lovin': The Media's Summer Fling with Al Gore

Summer lovin', had me a blast

Summer lovin', happened so fast.

The opening lyrics to the signature song in the musical Grease are apt to describe the media's summer fling with global warming alarmist Al Gore.

A new study by Rachel Waters and Dan Gainor of the MRC's Business & Media Institute (BMI) documents the love affair.

Even with the extensive media coverage – more than one network story per day on average – Gore’s film spent only one week in the top ten. The film only made it to the number nine position.

By comparison “X-Men III – The Last Stand” had only had 25 appearances on the networks in the same three-month period. The third installment in the X-Men series raked in more than $233 million in the U.S. Gore’s documentary has brought in less than $22 million. That means X-Men pulled in 10 times the money with one-third the TV appearances.

Gore and his film cropped up on every kind of show from “The View” and “Saturday Night Live” to “Lou Dobbs Tonight” and “The Nightly News.” From flattery about Gore’s newfound “charisma” to wishful thinking about his political future the media thoroughly enjoyed selling Gore this summer.

The full study can be found here. For the executive summary, click here.

BMI also recently released a look at how Hollywood sees businessmen as snakes in a boardroom.