09-28-07 by dugan
Greenpeace, eat your heart out. A day after announcing a $15 billion stock buyback, Chevron today announces a new $15-million ad campaign to boost its sorry corporate image. $15 million is only .1% of the stock buyback, but it’s still an unimaginable media budget for Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Consumers Union or (for sure) OilWatchdog.
See OilWatchdog’s more sober newsrelease/analysis of the new ads here. But really, shouldn’t a company so awash in cash flip few million into creating a real debate on how oil companies can salvage their own future, along with the global climate and motorists’ budgets?
I’d settle for several thousand to buy a subscription to the Oil Price Information Service.
I’d of course then owe Chevron the use of my name and OilWatchdog’s in ads telling people how evenhanded and tolerant the company is. Chevron’s media relations dept. would have strong suggestions for how we describe the company. And what about controlling discoveries unearthed by our Freedom of Information requests?
But if it’s no problem for Stanford and Exxon, or UC and BP, what the heck. It’s just a little greenwash in exchange for big bucks.