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Radical Chevron Ad Campaign Highlights Victims Print E-mail
Written by Imperial Valley News   
Monday, 18 October 2010

San Ramon, California - Chevron Corporation has announced a new global advertising campaign aimed at showing Chevron as a "real people" corporation, and admitting to problems that companies usually try to hide.

"We want the world to know that we're just like you and me," said Chevron Vice Chairman George L. Kirkland. "We've got problems and challenges, and we too make mistakes, but we're telling truths no one usually tells, and looking wide-eyed into the future."

The candid advertising campaign, created by award-winning long-time Chevron ad partner McGarryBowen, features real people on the receiving end of Chevron controversies in Ecuador, Nigeria, the U.S. Gulf Coast and elsewhere. Each print ad is designed with an authentic pop-culture street-art aesthetic, and features a sincere slogan followed by a big red "We Agree" stamp, the signature of Chevron executives, and the Chevron logo.

"Chevron is making a clean break from the past by taking direct responsibility for our own actions," said Rhonda Zygocki, Chevron vice president of Policy, Government and Public Affairs.

"Oil Companies Should Clean Up Their Messes," reads one ad; the small print refers candidly to the damage done by oil companies around the world. "For decades, oil companies like ours have worked in disadvantaged areas, influencing policy in order to do there what we can't do at home. It's time this changed."

Another ad, "Oil Companies Should Fix The Problems They Create," is just as topical. "Extracting oil from the Earth is a risky process, and mistakes do happen. It’s easy to pass the blame or ignore the mistakes we’ve made. Instead, we need to face them head on, accept our financial and environmental responsibilities, and fund new technologies to avoid these mistakes in the future."

"We were asked to show an agreeable, involved, of-the-people face for Chevron, and we think we came up with some really great ways of doing that," said Gordon Bowen, Chief Creative Officer of McGarryBowen. "But what’s unique and different here is the honesty. We've never been able to do this before."

"We're telling truths no one usually tells," said Zygocki. "We're changing the way the whole industry speaks."

"BP's response to the Gulf tragedy was widely perceived as perfunctory and insincere," noted Bowen. "Chevron has big problems too, like in Ecuador - but they're really stepping up to the plate."

The "We Agree" campaign is an evolution of Chevron's "Power of Human Energy" campaign, which launched in 2007 with a series of print, online, broadcast and outdoor ads that all sought to raise awareness and encourage discussion about the major issues facing the energy industry. Though the exact cost of "We Agree" remains confidential, Chevron routinely spends $90 million per year on US advertising alone.

"‘We Agree’ conveys that Chevron is all for people," said Zygocki.  "Just as ‘We’ is inclusive, so Chevron is inclusive. It’s time we were on the side of people, no matter where those people are from."

Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. The company has about 58,000 employees, and Chevron's subsidiaries conduct business in approximately 180 countries. Chevron operates across the entire energy spectrum - exploring for, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing and distributing fuels and other energy products; generating power; designing and marketing large-scale energy efficiency solutions; and commercializing the energy resources of the future, including biofuels and other renewables. Chevron is based in San Ramon, California.
 
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