Mocking the scam that is the BP cleanup, Greenpeace today released the ‘ScamWow!’ infomercial targeting BP and other oil companies who need a quick solution whenever pesky ecological devastation results from their irresponsible, risky drilling practices.
Spoofing the original late night cable sensation, the ScamWow! info-mock-cial demonstrates how the simple budget picker upper’s cleaning powers can instantly sanitize tar-balled beaches, scrub the oil company’s public image, and save shareholders millions in onerous cleanup costs – savings the company can then invest in more insulting “We will make this right” TV commercials and full-page ads.
The scary part is that the ScamWow! spoof isn’t too far off the actual claims made by BP in the wake of the Deepwater disaster. Touring Louisiana’s oil-drenched Fourchon Beach on May 24th, BP CEO Tony Hayward pledged to ‘clean every last drop’ and return the Gulf to full health (which it hasn’t seen in decades, but that’s beside the point for BP’s current PR purposes).
“We are going to do everything in our power to prevent any more oil from coming ashore, and we will clean every last drop up and we will remediate all of the environmental damage,” Hayward said after walking the beach while a cleanup crew shoveled oily sand into garbage cans for the cameras. BP correctly labeled it a “media event” on its Flickr page.
Hayward repeated the too-good-to-be-true message in an NPR interview in early June, stating:
“Our task is to contain the oil. Ultimately to eliminate the leaking well, but most importantly, to clean up all of the oil, defend the shoreline and restore the shoreline where oil does come ashore, such that we return it to its original state.”
It looks like Tony Hayward has been watching too many late night cable infomercials.
Just wait until he hears about the ScamWow!:
