The Corporations' Spin doctors

national | arts and media | other press Tuesday February 27, 2007 22:18 by David Manning - MediaBite editors at mediabite dot org

Maintaining the illusion

As anyone that has followed the fortunes of the Shell to Sea campaign will know, under the often 'unflattering' luminance of the media spotlight, there appears an almost unhealthy association between some of those that 'strive' for impartiality and objectivity, whether it be in the media or in politics, and the corporation.

This has been highlighted quite succinctly by Shell's approach to image management. This approach has meant hiring those individuals best placed to embellish Shell's façade. Whether that be ex-politicos or ex- journos, the job remains the same, to cunningly manage and carefully design Shell’s 'image'.

While bad press does ‘get out’, in Shell's case: contaminating lands, forests and lakes in Nigeria or allegedly causing air pollution in Texas, these embarrassments are to be contained, and the image kept a universally admirable one: [2] [3]

Shell – "Our aim is to meet the energy needs of society, in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable."

ExxonMobil – "Humankind faces an enormous challenge: meeting the world's growing demand for energy, driven mainly by the desire for higher living standards, while managing the environmental effects of the increase in energy consumption. At ExxonMobil, we work to balance these different needs."

BP (Formerly British Petroleum) – "For clarity, we express our group values under four headings: performance; people and capability; health, safety and environment; and external relationships."

Statoil – "On the basis of a clear set of values, we will work profitably and safely while also taking account of the environment and showing social responsibility.”

Total: "The nature of our activities and our international reach require us to deal with a wide array of specific responsibilities and also arouse numerous expectations. Industrial safety, supporting local development, securing the future of energy, environmental stewardship and combating climate change are all critical challenges that Total is committed to meeting."

Chevron - "Protecting the earth's natural resources is as important to Chevron as providing the energy sources so essential to improving our quality of life. Beyond meeting the world's energy needs, our goal is to be recognized and admired everywhere for having a record of environmental excellence."

In our latest piece, guest commentator Kieran Allen, looks at the big corporations' designers, make-up artists and spin doctors:

In Praise of Subversion
by Kieran Allen

A recent Irish Times front-page article was headlined ‘O Brien nets €700 –800million in Caribbean deal’. The story was written in an apparently objective style, describing how the Irish businessman will receive the money in cash while other associates such as his father Denis Snr and PJ Mara, Fianna Fail’s PR man will also make huge gains.

The tone of the article was distinctly celebratory. There was not the faintest hint that extracting this vast sum from the impoverished islands of the Caribbean might be a trifle unfair. No connections were made between O Brien’s aggressive approach to profit making and his unsavoury activities in Ireland. This, after all, is the man who in 2000 sold Esat for €2.3 billion and then avoided paying €55 million in tax by declaring himself a resident of Portugal. When some concerned citizens protested, he lashed out by saying:

‘There is too much shite going on inside Ireland at the moment. I think people are too negative towards politicians, Government, and entrepreneurs. We are fast turning into a communist state. We are fast moving towards communist doctrine.’ People in this country should be thankful for what they achieved in the last ten years. Instead I come back to Ireland and people are screaming like spoiled children. [1]

continued...

http://www.mediabite.org/article_In-Praise-of-Subversio....html

1. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,12....html
2. http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/behind_shine.pdf