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07.16.12 - 11:04 PM

Shell (Sort Of): Tomorrow Is Yesterday, Accelerated, and You Can't Afford to Visit Pristine Wilderness Anyway

by Abby Zimet

Amidst Shell's recent spate of closely-averted disasters, Greenpeace and The Yes Men are having a fine old time with a new mock Arctic Ready ad campaign in which Shell asks "Arctic-enthused drivers" to add their own slogans to images of nature, thereby showing "how Arctic energy production will transform the world." Their results: brutal and hilarious.

"Here at Shell, we’re committed to online social media. After all, it’s the fuel that lubricates the engines of internet communication."

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Showing 9 comments

  • 4:20 Express 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Wll, here goes.

    "Shell visited the arctic and all I got was an oil-slicked coat!"

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  • ctrl-z, The on-screen printer seems low on ink. Ok, fixed it........................................................... 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    My caption for the Oil Platform Dildo picture: "Shell, doing the arctic just like we do you."

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  • N8W1der 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    In the absence of a true fourth estate, it is left to those of us who actually care about the future of the planet to resort to clever agitprop.

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  • Moon_Panther13 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Hey, we can screw up the planet.....  God's just gonna rapture up all the nice white Christian folks soon anyway.   

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  • 4:20 Express 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    It keeps telling me the ad generator is down.

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  • iconoclaste 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Hilarious! I think soon Shell will get it removed.

    From the "About Shell" link on the left:

    About this campaign
    Shell’s Let's Go! Arctic campaign comes after exhaustive market research, in which we found out that people like
    straight talk about oil, and that what they prize most is honesty and
    enthusiasm about the challenges in obtaining it, with sensitivity to
    environmental and cultural ramifications riding a distant second.

    With the Let's Go! Arctic campaign, therefore, we have stressed the
    excitement of working in distant frontiers, in some of the most
    dangerous conditions known or unknown to Man, and depending for survival
    not so much on the cutting-edge quality of our equipment,
    as on the sharpness of our wits. We have also insisted on communicating
    some of the ways we can minimize risks to environment and culture,
    without ever compromising our safety.

    Another thing our research has found is that people prefer certainty to
    mere possibility; a bird in the hand, after all, is worth two in the
    bush (or the snow, as the case may be). So while climate change is a
    serious thing, and its effects, as scientists say, could wipe out a
    large chunk of humanity, such outcomes are a mere possibility—whereas the benefits from oil extraction are a certainty. Not only does oil certainly permit our civilization to continue, it is also certain
    that it could be used to help us transition to clean fuels, not to
    mention rebuild our infrastructure should climate disaster strike.

    Everyone can appreciate how oil—the dinosaurs' parting gift to Man—can
    be used to help build a better future for everyone. Let's Go!
     

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  • a a 3 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

    Whoops! Sorry guys, this is a hoax.... See http://www.yeslab.org/shellfai...
    Andy

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  • Obedient Servant 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

     Hoax?  What a disappointment!

    I had a sure-fire winner:

    "Arctic Energy Production-- It's The New Black!"

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  • a a 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Submit it! The contest isn't a hoax - it's just not actually Shell that's doing it.

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