Greenpeace Clean Energy Billboard Rejected by Pattison

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After a Plains Midstream Canada pipeline spilled between 160,000 and 480,000 liters of oil into Jackson Creek near the Red Deer River in Alberta this month, premier Alison Redford called the incident โ€œan exception.โ€

Yet, as Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema reports, this spill comes as no surprise given Albertaโ€™s aging pipeline infrastructure and when considering that, in 2010 alone, pipelines across the country experienced 687 โ€˜failuresโ€™ resulting in 3,416 cubic meters of spilled toxicย pollutants.

Thatโ€™s why Greenpeace decided to send Premier Redford a strong message โ€œabout the need to invest in green jobs and stop the growing number of toxic oil spills,โ€ Hudema wrote yesterday.ย 
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But this plan was stopped in its tracks when Pattison Outdoor Advertising, an advertising arm of the Vancouverโ€“based Jim Pattison Group, rejected Greenpeaceโ€™s billboard design destined for a busy Edmonton intersection. Without ceremony and without explanation, the agency refused to host the proposed billboard sign pictured below, simply announcing to Greenpeace, โ€œthe artwork has been rejected.โ€
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As Hudema writes, the rejection comes as a surprise, especially considering how tame the design is compared to previous Greenpeace ads. The real concern this raises is, of course, the ability to speak for clean energy in an increasingly dirty energy-runย province.

โ€œThe fact that this ad was denied is more than a little worrying. I mean what does it say about the state of public debate in this country when the tar sands industry can put billboards up across the country talking about how toxic tailings are just like yogurt, but a billboard highlighting the rash of oil spills and the need for green energy is rejected,โ€ writesย Hudema.

According to the Globe and Mail, Joe Donaldson, vice-president of marketing for Pattison Outdoor, Pattison’s official response to the rejection is โ€œnoย comment.โ€

It is a mystery what Pattison Outdoor sought to accomplish when it decided Greenpeace’s plea for renewable energy was unfit for their stage. The company decided to forego the week’s $2800.00 CAD plus tax rental in the axedย deal.

Greenpeace might come out ahead in this ordeal, however, with stories of the billboard rejection making headlines across theย country.

โ€œWe are encouraging people to circulate the ad,โ€ Hudema told the Globe and Mail. โ€œIf Pattison doesn’t want to run it we can at least get the awarenessย out.โ€

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