Phil Gutis's Blog
Carrot Sticks
August 22, 2007
Posted by Phil Gutis in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , The Media and the Environment
In an interesting example of policy advocacy crossing into marketing land, this week's Advertising Age has an article titled "BP touts greenness, then asks to dump ammonia."
The controversy involves a plan by the energy giant to increase the amount of toxic discharges from a refinery into Lake Michigan and how its plans have angered Chicago officials and flamed talks of a consumer boycott of the company.
Ann Alexander, an attorney in NRDC's new Midwest office, joined the fray in a recent op-ed in the Chicago Sun Times.
"Like a pious preacher caught with the secretary in a cheap motel, the oil company that spent years promising to take us 'beyond petroleum' has suddenly found itself at the center of a growing storm brought on by a severe case of hypocrisy," Alexander wrote. "Instead of a public atonement, BP is digging in its heels. Odds are that this is a losing game, one that will leave both corporate and political reputations battered and broken."
Alexander notes that BP has spent millions promoting itself as the greenest oil giant. But BP has applied and won permission to start dumping 1600 pounds of ammonia and nearly two and a half tons of contaminated sludge each and every day into Lake Michigan from a refinery in Indiana that is a mile away from where 11 cities get their drinking water.
That's the point of the AdAge story, which notes that the controversy has drawn "attention to the cardinal sin of touting an environmentally conscious image in marketing —the central focus of BP's advertising for the past several years —and failing to live up to the message."
NRDC more than welcomes corporate efforts to go green. We're actively involved in helping giants like Wal-Mart transform their operations and working with many other companies.
But Ann's op-ed about the controversy over BP in the Midwest should serve as a reminder that NRDC will not shy from using the age old carrot and stick approach (Or, as one of my colleagues called it, the "carrot stick."
When rhetoric does not live up to actions, we're not going to be shy about letting the world know. You can bank on that.
(bookmark or email this entry)
- Phil Gutis
- Director of Communications
- New York City
- I'm NRDC's Director of Communications so Switchboard and NRDC.org are ultimately my responsibility. (Cheers or...
- more→
