Art as a target for climate activism: Does it raise public attention?

In 2022, a series of environmental protests targeted Western art masterpieces to provoke public awareness of climate change. While these attacks received considerable media attention, one question remains unanswered: did they affect public attention regarding climate-related issues? Using weekly Google Trends data across Western countries and applying both interrupted time series and difference-in-differences estimators, we assess whether these acts shifted public attention. Exploiting the presence of climate action among the Sustainable Development Goals, and constructing a counterfactual using public interest in other goals, we find that, across multiple specifications and robustness checks, climate action became relatively more salient following the attacks. Our results suggest that the strategy of targeting symbolic cultural goods was associated with a measurable increase in public attention regarding environmental issues.