Shell Game

SUBHEAD: Fake "Let's Go!" campaign parodies Shell's cynical PR effort supporting Arctic drilling exploration.

 By Brian Merchant on 15 June 2012 for TreeHugger -  
(http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/shells-lets-go-arctic-drilling-ads-are-fake-and-hilarious.html)

   
 Image above: Illustration of a polar bear in captivity - Shell's contribution to the environment. See text below for ad content From (http://arcticready.com/arctic).

HARD CHOICES - WE'RE MAKING THEM. LET'S GO. In the high stakes hunt for natural resources we are bringing humanity closer than ever to nature's most vulnerable inhabitants. But the high stakes also bring high risk. At Shell, we're balancing our need to power our way of life with our responsibility to the planet, working harder than ever to minimize the damage when disaster strikes, so even if we lose some of our friends up north we don't lose them all. Thinking ahead makes all the difference.

Last week, we wrote about the rather amazing prank pulled by the Yes Men: they faked the malfunction of a booze-spewing oil rig replica at a faked Shell Arctic drilling launch party, and the internets went wild. So, first, read about the multi-layered stunt—they also released a fake press release from Shell threatening legal action—and the following will make more sense.
It's a faux ad campaign for Shell's Arctic drilling operations called 'Let's Go!' that the company was supposedly unveiling at the launch party before disaster struck.

So, on an official-looking website, Arctic Ready, the Yes Men and friends have put together a series of images and materials that pretty hilariously lampoon the oil giant's push to drill in the icy, dangerous northern reaches of the nation.

 
Image above: Illustration of results of ocean ising - Shell's contribution to the environment. See text below for ad content From (http://arcticready.com/arctic). Click to enlarge.

WE'RE CONQUERING THE ARCTIC TO FUEL A BRIGHTER TOMORROW. LET'S GO. Climate change means many things to many people. In our role as a world-leading energy producer we choose to look at change through a positive lens. As the Arctic north melts away, opportunity heats up. Shell is exploring how to welcome the warm embrace of change, turning crisis into solutions to power humanity into the future.

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