FEBRUARY 4, 2009
Royal Dutch Shell has beenaccused of exaggerating environmental policies in the past, and a new ad theyve recently released is once again causing the oil companys critics to yell greenwashing, Wall Street Journal reports.
Designed by JWT, the campaign focuses on Shells use of technology to harvest oil but one new print ad features a diagram of a human brain full of alternative and renewable fuel sources. Thats where the critics come in, saying that, contrary to what the ad implies, Shell is taking steps backwards in terms of clean energy.
A Greenpeace rep says that the company is trying to hide the fact that theyve been pulling funding from renewable energy projects to extract oil from Canadas tar sands. (The company recently said it would stop investing in Europe if utilities are forced to pay for emissions permits through auctions.)
Last August, Shell was reprimanded by UKs Advertising Standards Authority for violating advertising rules when it claimed that the two oil projects in Canada and the U.S. involved sustainable forms of energy.
That wasnt the first time Shell faced criticism over its green advertising. Last year, Friends of the Earth Europe filed simultaneous complaints to the national advertising standards authorities of Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK about a Shell advertisement which Friends of the Earth says depicts the outline of an oil refinery emitting flowers rather than smoke and claims that it uses its waste CO2 to grow flowers and [its] waste sulphur to make concrete.
JWT says that the new greenwashing claims are unfair. Stef Tiratelli, JWTs manager for Shell, says that the ASA doesnt have much experience with green energy, and theyve already made changes to their ads to comply with ASA standards.
According to the ASAs Environmental Claims Survey 2008, 94 percent of ads with environmental claims were compliant with advertising codes.
In the U.S., the FTC has held three workshops to examine issues concerning the marketing of carbon offsets and renewable energy, green packaging, and green buildings and textiles.
With the FTC expected to update its Green Guides this year, the commission is likely to seek legal precedents by going after companies whose green claims have been under investigation.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
