Drivers around Chicago have been startled to see the haggard face of notorious serial killer Ted Kaczynski glowering down at them from huge electronic billboards.

"I still believe in Global Warming," the message reads. "Do you?"

Rogues and villains

The billboards were sponsored by the Heartland Institute, America's most notorious climate change denial group. According to Heartland's press release, other infamous killers – Charles Manson, Osama bin Laden and more – would also appear over the same message.

Their none-too-subtle point? "These rogues and villains were chosen because they made public statements about how manmade global warming is a crisis and how mankind must take immediate and drastic actions to stop it."

How to lose your remaining friends

After widespread outrage – some even from supporters – Heartland ended the campaign after just one day, saying their attention-getting "experiment" had been a success.

But the stunt has cost them, and intensified the effort to persuade major corporate donors, such as Microsoft and Pfizer, to stop giving money to the group.

This latest self-inflicted wound follows the leaking in February of internal documents that exposed Heartland's funding from deep-pocketed oil and tobacco interests, as well as their plans to develop a school curriculum to counter accepted science on climate change.

Take action: Sign up to Forecast the Facts' petition to Heartland's corporate sugar-daddies, telling them to stop funding disinformation and downright dishonesty.