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Posts in Public Relations

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  API’s Latest “Ridiculous” Anti-Tax Campaign

  Andy Rowell

  Apr26

  Any regular reading of this blog will know that that the good old American Petroleum Institute (API) is fairly wizard-like when it comes to conjuring up numbers of how many people the industry supports or employs. Up to September 2009, the API had often repeated statements such as “The oil and gas industry employs nearly…
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  One Year Later: BP’s Contamination Continues

  Andy Rowell

  Apr13

  BP’s AGM tomorrow is set to be a tumultuous affair with the oil giant having to absorb criticism over the legacy of the it’s catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, its investment in the dirty Canadian tar sands and its dodgy deal with the Russian Rosneft to drill in the Arctic. Throw in…
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  “Compromised” API Set for Key Safety Role

  Andy Rowell

  Jan31

  So its back to business as usual. Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, is set to announce a resumption of dividend payments tomorrow as a signal to investors that the oil giant is back on track, after last year’s Deepwater disaster. The reinstatement is key for Dudley to show investor confidence before his inaugural presentation to…
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  Shell’s Nigerian PR Strategy Exposed

  Andy Rowell

  Nov10

  To mark the 15th Anniversary of the execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, we are exposing the public relations tactics that Shell employed to counter criticism of its operations in the country. The evidence is contained in documents collected for the landmark trial last year of Wiwa versus Shell, but they were never made public…
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  Chevron Must Think We Are Stupid

  Andy Rowell

  Oct28

  Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. Oil giant Chevron’s multi-million ad campaign, entitled “We agree” has back-fired badly. What’s worse it has given its critics a real opportunity to spoof the company’s highly misleading adverts.. And boy are they having fun and games. The the spoof campaign is beginning to go viral.

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  What a FAArce

  Andy Rowell

  Oct20

  One of the more unsavoury trends in politics over the last couple of decades has been the sprouting of corporate front groups that pervert the political process. Often the give-away is in the title: so if something says it is an Alliance or made up of Citizens, you actually know it is nothing of the…
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• API Scaremongers Over Jobs

  Andy Rowell

  Oct01

  The good old American Petroleum Institute is up to its old tricks again, scaremongering over jobs. The API held “citizen” rallies in seven cities in early September to discuss the effect of energy legislation on jobs, arguing that many jobs were under threat. To coincide with the lobbying effort, two weeks ago, the API put…
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• Greenwashing Mordor

  Andy Rowell

  Sep28

  So Mordor is getting a makeover. Big-time. There is a concerted, multi-faceted public relations campaign going on to greenwash the tar sands. Dirty black is trying to become virgin white, or so that’s what they want. According to three Albertan cabinet ministers, the tar sands are a “Canadian jewel” that should be celebrated and exploited….
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• Nigeria: Independent Figures Dispute UN’s Findings

  Andy Rowell

  Aug24

  If a tobacco company gave the World Health Organisation a $10 million grant to examine the health effects of smoking, health campaigners would be outraged.  They would also treat the results with great suspicion. And the fact that Shell gave UNEP $10 million dollars to examine the cause of oil spills in Ogoni means that…
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• “Probably the most notorious branding crisis in memory”

  Andy Rowell

  Aug19

  First Greenpeace ran a competition to help BP redesign its logo, and now the Washington Post is running a competition for the public to suggest slogans to help BP repair its battered image. The competition is running until tomorrow noon, if anyone wants to have a go. So far the entries are pretty predictable: BP=Best…
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