"While oil prices steeply declined in the fourth quarter last year, all but one of the Big Five saw net profits in excess of $20 billion. These enormous profits were primarily due to record prices at the pump, which squeezed the budgets of everyday Americans. The big oil companies were worried about the impact of these huge profits on their images while Americans were bearing the burden of record prices. So to soften the public’s perception, these companies launched a green public relations offensive to convince the public that they were part of the energy solution, instead of part of the energy problem.
Media tracking group TNS Media Intelligence reported that $52.5 million was spent by the oil industry on greenwashing advertisements—advertisements boasting about investments in wind and solar power or efficiency while the companies did very little—in the first quarter of 2008 alone. However, a CAP analysis of actual company investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency indicates that the PR campaigns are little more than empty rhetoric.
For example, ExxonMobil spent $100 million on advertising in 2007, (its 2008 advertising totals are unavailable). Some of its ads catalogue ExxonMobil’s “efforts” to combat global warming, with messages that include “saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” This ad ignores the millions of dollars Exxon pumped into funding organizations that questioned the existence of global warming. Exxon’s television ads similarly talk about global warming, efficiency, and alternative energy sources, concerns not reflected in investments.
Chevron has its own advertising campaign to tout its green credentials. The company is spending millions to disseminate its “I Will” message on newspapers, television, and even on the sides of buses. But Chevron made a total of $23.9 billion in profits in 2008 while investing only 5 percent of its total profits in renewable and alternative energy ventures.
Other companies have also engaged in major greenwashing advertising campaigns in an attempt to protect their images during record gasoline prices and profits. BP has a whole series of cheerful animated commercials, and the BP logo itself is a green and yellow sunburst-like flower. BP’s profits for 2008 were $21.2 billion, yet it invested only seven cents in its alternative energy unit for every dollar of profit."
