Shell's Greenwashing Advertisements 'misleading'

onJul 17, 2007 @ 14:39 PDT

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been ordered to withdrawal ‘misleading’ advertising in Holland after the environmental group Friends of the Earth claimed the ads were a case of “greenwashing.”

The ads showing flowers emitting from smoke stacks made the claim that Shell’s greenhouse gas emissions were being recycled and used to grow flowers in actual greenhouses. The Dutch Advertising Code Authority stated, “Shell suggests that all of these gases are recycled and that is not the case, so our committee found a misleading environmental claim.”

“Instead of ‘greenwashing’ its environmental behavior, Shell should tackle its real problems,” said Anne van Schaik, a campaign leader for Friends of the Earth Netherlands. “For instance, in Nigeria, gas flaring by Shell causes 60 times more greenhouse gas emissions than the carbon dioxide that is reused by Dutch farmers to grow flowers.”

Nice job, and well said.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.