Marketing / PR / Corporate Communications
Could you convince people that DIRTY is CLEAN?
Corporate marketers with "coal, oil, gas, utility, and car" companies waged a multi-decade
campaign to: "sabotage science" and "confuse the public & decision makers".
Oil companies "sought ... to burnish their reputations" as "environmental champions.” !
The "greenwashing ... by airlines was notably subtle."
“U.S. meat & dairy companies … spent millions ... downplaying" agricultural pollution.
Many companies use messaging to "imply ... their products are [good] for the Earth."
Public Relations Historical Events:
Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, and John Hill were public relations pioneers.
Their connections with oil and mining companies
go back at least as far as the Ludlow Massacre in 1914.
When "smog" became a problem in Los Angeles (1946)
fossil-fuel companies sponsored “research to ... shape public opinion.”
E. B. Harrison "made his mark in 1962". “The godfather of ‘greenwashing',"
recommended trying to "appear environmentally responsible" without lessening pollution output.
1971: A PR campaign introduced a new idea: “littering”. Money came from can and beverage companies plus Big Tobacco, who "developed programs with Keep America Beautiful."
More ideas: “Solutions acceptable to the tobacco industry” i.e., “volunteer clean-ups and ashtrays."
Keep America Beautiful tried to "divert responsibility" from those who "sell disposable products.”
Some the world's biggest corporate polluters currently sponsor Keep America Beautiful:
Pepsi, Nestle, DuPont, Marlboro, McDonalds, Heineken, Busch, Altria (cigarettes), Coca-Cola, etc.
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In the 1990’s, the plastics "industry sold the public on an idea it knew wouldn't work -
that plastic could be recycled." The industry has made billions selling new ("virgin") plastic.
“The ads were paid for by ... companies like Exxon, Chevron, Dow, & DuPont."
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In the 2000's, the advertising firm, Ogilvy and Mather, revitalized the litter-is-your-fault idea.
The oil-giant BP "promoted and ... popularized the term ‘carbon footprint’.”
This was done “to cover up BP’s dirty tricks that flow from their oil business.”
However, by 2020, the company did make an (unsuccessful) effort to transition to renewables.
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“Between 2005 and 2008, the Koch's spent nearly $25 million" by using think-tanks:
Supposedly "quasi-scholarly organizations", think-tanks wanted to "legitimize the right to pollute.”
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Big Oil (2008) blamed pollution on auto-makers and car-drivers: “Improve your gas mileage”.
It's "important we reduce ... emissions." "Improving the efficiency of vehicles ... is one way.”
2019: a top consultant admitted regrets. “‘I was wrong’ Frank Luntz told a ... Senate ... panel.”
Luntz helped Republicans. "He crafted talking points for the Koch brothers.”
He had urged politicians to "emphasize a lack of scientific certainty around climate change.”
2020: Subaru is "hiding its slow progress on EVs behind ‘green’ marketing.”
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They paid so-called conservation groups for marketing promotions, while resisting making EVs.
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A Subaru Senior Vice President of Marketing wrote they hope to “Keep America ... Beautiful.”
Click on these two links to see
which organizations hire PR firms,
and which professionals get hired.
Corporate consultants may "spread [dis-information] about electric vehicles."
Or tempt scientists to rebut legitimate, unbiased science. "What they did was immoral,”
doubting the dangers "when their own researchers were confirming how serious a threat it was."
“Revelations about Exxon Mobil’s campaign came from ... efforts to manipulate public opinion.”
Professional P.R. firms try to influence desires and thereby - purchasing patterns.
How do they do it?
They don't try to "sell nicotine patches ... as a means to quit smoking".
They imply the patches lead to happier "relationships, improved health, & longer life."
Can you “spot the tricks Big Oil uses”?!? It’s not easy; usually it takes a trained eye.
Examine this carefully worded item from an international oil company, claiming it:
"has always put people at the center of the energy conversation.
Because we understand that the well-being of people everywhere depends on energy.”
Why choose those particular words? ? ?
If it supports “people”, would it ever harm anyone - while pursuing profits?
Is it really a (human) “we”? Or a heartless bureaucratic corporate conglomerate?
Who doesn't like "conversation"? Who doesn't want "energy”?
If you hear these hucksters use the word, "energy", assume you are being manipulated.
This company "understands".
How many deaths are caused by this "understanding" organization?
And it's concerned about "well-being"?
As opposed to illnesses their real world product create for "people everywhere"?
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Would you like to visit the fake world they portray? Perhaps at an Exxon-sponsored,
Disney-World ride with video of/by Ellen DeGeneres, Jamie Lee-Curtis, and Bill Nye?
“Yes, it existed.”
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Phony "grass-roots movements” are called "astro-turf".
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Marketers "hire social media influencers to make cooking
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with gas stoves seem ... trendy, despite the indoor air pollution.”
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“The Petroleum Product Marketing course consists of 8 lessons.”
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Consumer "perception" can expand enthusiasm for a boycott.
Marketing is intended to influence perception.
How could marketing techniques be used to decrease polluting behaviors?
"Accentuate the benefits" of "flying less, driving less, wasting less, having fewer children."