Shell ditched as sponsor of Wildlife Photographer Exhibition due to protest
David Rose | 29.01.2008 14:41 | Climate Camp 2007 | Climate Chaos
Shell's two year tenure as sponsor of the Natural History Museum's ¡Wildlife Photographer of the Year¢ exhibition has come to an end. A determined, creative two year national campaign, coordinated in part by the direct action group Rising Tide and its Art Not Oil (1) campaign, helped to force the NHM to ditch Shell. In Bristol, as well as the local Rising Tide group, People and Plane and FoEt were also heavily involved in the protests
SHELL DITCHED AS SPONSOR OF WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER EXHIBITION IN FACE OF WIDESPREAD PROTEST
Shell's two year tenure as sponsor of the Natural History Museum's ¡Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition has come to an end. A determined, creative two year national campaign, coordinated in part by the direct action group Rising Tide and its Art Not Oil (1) campaign, helped to force the NHM to ditch Shell. In Bristol, People and Planet were also heavily involved in the protests
Using a combination of creative direct action (2) and a ¡Shell's Wild Lie exhibition (3), Rising Tide has been pressurising the Museum and partner BBC Wildlife magazine to acknowledge that one of the world¢s largest oil companies is not a good sponsor for an exhibition that has become a powerful testament to the beauty, diversity and fragility of the natural world.(4)
This campaign, and the significant public pressure it mobilised, has now paid off.
In Bristol, several protests took place. This includeda polar bear die-in at the museum and a visit to BBC Wildlife Magazine offices.
Mr P.Bear of Bristol Rising Tide: said "The people of Bristol should be proud that they have helped stop this particluarly noxious piece of greenwash from happening.
London Rising Tide's Sam Chase said: ¡We are delighted that the Natural History Museum has seen sense and bid farewell to Shell in what must rank as the most absurd and appalling sponsorship deal ever seen. Now it's time for the Museum to turn down cash from climate-destroying companies like BP, BA and Shell (5), and for cultural institutions across London and the UK to do the same.
¡The oil industry is destroying our future, as well as the lives and of countless living beings right now. For that reason, and because this victory has shown what climatically conscious grassroots art can achieve, we will be keeping up the pressure with our Art Not Oil campaign.
[Ends]
Contact:
info@artnotoil.org.uk, 07708 794 665
Notes to editors:
1) Now in its fifth year, Art Not Oil stands for ¡creativity, climate justice and an end to oil industry sponsorship of arts and culture¢. It has acted as a beacon for artists worldwide who are committed to using their creativity positively, and is a hub for protest against the oil industry greenwashing its image by appropriating UK cultural institutions. Its 2008 online gallery is now open for submissions: www.artnotoil.org,uk
2) Over the past year protests have taken place at (print quality copies of the photos below are available on request):
Natural History Museum, October 2007:
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/231 and January 2008: http://www.planestupid.com/?q=content/march-penguins-climate-activists-protest-british-airways-ice-rink
BBC Wildlife Magazine HQ, Bristol, December 2007: http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=27160
Bristol Museum, December 2007: http://onthelevelblog.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/direct-action-in-bristol-reveals-shells-greenwash/
Tate Britain, January 2008: http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk/node/409
3) The ¡Shell¢s Wild Lie¢ exhibition will tour the UK and Europe through 2008 and beyond. http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/gallery/v/Shell/
4) 'Shell: the evidence': http://www.artnotoil.org.uk//content/view/23/2/
5) Both Shell and BP are Corporate Members of the NHM, donating £25,000 or more per year. BA gives £10,000 per year. Current Prime Minister-appointed NHM Trustees include Louise Charlton of Brunswick Group, the public relations firm contracted in 2004 by Shell to carry out PR damage limitation in the wake of its reserves-reporting scandal, and Sir William Castell, non-executive director of BP. Conflicts of interest like these are rife right across the UK¢s leading cultural institution.
6) Friends of the Earth has also been running a campaign against the Shell deal:
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/press_for_change/wildlife_photographer/index.html
Shell's two year tenure as sponsor of the Natural History Museum's ¡Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition has come to an end. A determined, creative two year national campaign, coordinated in part by the direct action group Rising Tide and its Art Not Oil (1) campaign, helped to force the NHM to ditch Shell. In Bristol, People and Planet were also heavily involved in the protests
Using a combination of creative direct action (2) and a ¡Shell's Wild Lie exhibition (3), Rising Tide has been pressurising the Museum and partner BBC Wildlife magazine to acknowledge that one of the world¢s largest oil companies is not a good sponsor for an exhibition that has become a powerful testament to the beauty, diversity and fragility of the natural world.(4)
This campaign, and the significant public pressure it mobilised, has now paid off.
In Bristol, several protests took place. This includeda polar bear die-in at the museum and a visit to BBC Wildlife Magazine offices.
Mr P.Bear of Bristol Rising Tide: said "The people of Bristol should be proud that they have helped stop this particluarly noxious piece of greenwash from happening.
London Rising Tide's Sam Chase said: ¡We are delighted that the Natural History Museum has seen sense and bid farewell to Shell in what must rank as the most absurd and appalling sponsorship deal ever seen. Now it's time for the Museum to turn down cash from climate-destroying companies like BP, BA and Shell (5), and for cultural institutions across London and the UK to do the same.
¡The oil industry is destroying our future, as well as the lives and of countless living beings right now. For that reason, and because this victory has shown what climatically conscious grassroots art can achieve, we will be keeping up the pressure with our Art Not Oil campaign.
[Ends]
Contact:
info@artnotoil.org.uk, 07708 794 665 Notes to editors:
1) Now in its fifth year, Art Not Oil stands for ¡creativity, climate justice and an end to oil industry sponsorship of arts and culture¢. It has acted as a beacon for artists worldwide who are committed to using their creativity positively, and is a hub for protest against the oil industry greenwashing its image by appropriating UK cultural institutions. Its 2008 online gallery is now open for submissions: www.artnotoil.org,uk
2) Over the past year protests have taken place at (print quality copies of the photos below are available on request):
Natural History Museum, October 2007:
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/231 and January 2008: http://www.planestupid.com/?q=content/march-penguins-climate-activists-protest-british-airways-ice-rink BBC Wildlife Magazine HQ, Bristol, December 2007:
http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=27160 Bristol Museum, December 2007:
http://onthelevelblog.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/direct-action-in-bristol-reveals-shells-greenwash/ Tate Britain, January 2008:
http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk/node/409 3) The ¡Shell¢s Wild Lie¢ exhibition will tour the UK and Europe through 2008 and beyond.
http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/gallery/v/Shell/ 4) 'Shell: the evidence':
http://www.artnotoil.org.uk//content/view/23/2/ 5) Both Shell and BP are Corporate Members of the NHM, donating £25,000 or more per year. BA gives £10,000 per year. Current Prime Minister-appointed NHM Trustees include Louise Charlton of Brunswick Group, the public relations firm contracted in 2004 by Shell to carry out PR damage limitation in the wake of its reserves-reporting scandal, and Sir William Castell, non-executive director of BP. Conflicts of interest like these are rife right across the UK¢s leading cultural institution.
6) Friends of the Earth has also been running a campaign against the Shell deal:
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/press_for_change/wildlife_photographer/index.html
David Rose
e-mail:
daviddoesbristol@googlemail.com
Comments
Hide the following 11 comments
Blowing own trumpet department
29.01.2008 15:32
This was a two year sponsership deal which has now come to an end. So in fact the actions of the various group involved did not stop the deal or shorten it.
There is little point in claiming credit for something when it is patently obvious that the campaign did not achieve what it set out to. This is up there with claims of "200 000 people on the demo" when it was nothing like that. The Shell campaign was well thought out, well executed and well planned but it failed to achieve one of its key aims. Better to acknowledge that. learn from it and move on.
Bix
But it's not renewed, is it?
29.01.2008 15:58
Was it ever likely that such a short-term sponsorship deal would be ended before the 2 years?
Look at how long other corporate art sponsorship programmes like BP or the Whitbread-now-Costa have lasted. Short contracts are probably the norm, but the companies are looking to "build a relationship", long-term, to the extent that the two brands become nearly synonymous (witness the Mercury Music Prize, or the Man Booker Prize", names outlasting the deal or even the company).
So when Shell realise that to continue with this deal makes them look hypocritical to the casual observer, they don't renew but quietly walk away at the end of the contract. And that image damage is as a result of the campaigning by RT and others.
That is a victory and I'll help Rising Tide blow their trumpet on this one.
xiB
No problem
29.01.2008 16:21
One final thing take a look at the Shell website for the period when this was announced, it was a two year deal, it was always going to be a two year deal because that is what Shell does. The only and only exception in the past 15 years of corporate sponsorship that Shell extended was their deal with Ferrari in Formula 1.
But like I said claim it as a victory if that makes you feel better.
Bix
Great to hear
29.01.2008 16:23
Now that they've decided to shun Shell from renewing the contract, it's also likely they won't go for such big climate criminals next time. That is more of a positive sign in my opinion because it means another oil company won't get in there either (like they might of) and they probably aren't interested at all after the campaign!
I can imagine Shell were waiting for that expiry date to come. as well as the museum...
Great work
In the real world
29.01.2008 16:33
Reality = Shell's two year deal to sponsor exhibition comes to an end. New head of Marketing at Shell decides to spend money on motorsports advertising so doesn't renew deal.
Realism check
Victory!
29.01.2008 22:30
'Bix' and 'reality check', what the fuck have you done to make a difference this year - oh, except for sit behind your PC in shell company HQ, or Scotland Yard trying to dampen the spirit of a re-emerging eco direct action movement.
Well done again folks!
(A) Sab x
Shell info
30.01.2008 08:26
The myth of the oil "running out" is a well worn tactic by the oil companies that has been used eight times in history and has worked every time. Shell is sitting on trillions of barrels in its US fields which they in agreement with the US government will not drill because they want the Middle East oil used first, the Saudis don't care because they have even more but the Iranians are not folled which is why they are developing nuclear generation to slow their oil use domesticly.
don't trust Shell
world oil reserves
30.01.2008 10:01
The World Oil Forum has pushed the US government for years to relase the real figures but the major oil companies now get around this by declaring fields to be "theoretical and non proven" so they are not included in true reserves.
Prof Robert Engler made a number of calculations based on exploration - sucess ratios and an assumption of oil demand doubling by 2012 and calculated that current reserves both declared and undeclared equate to nearly 300 years worth however the crucial thing is that for the final 140 years almost 100% of the world's oil will come from either Saudi Arabia or North America. In 2005 Exxon CEO Lee Raymond was said to have called these figures, "about right".
None of this takes into account non found fields, the Artic region for example probably has more oil under it than the entire current fields already found but the challenges of getting it are formidible.
oil info
Shell stuff
30.01.2008 12:28
Many are now aware of Margeret Thatchers role in creating the story of Carbon influenced climate change but the web could well be wider than just politicians.
rik
oi RIk
01.02.2008 14:10
Given their hatred of environmental causes, and past form pimping for corporations, I hope the "small group" you refer to have got some better information than that because frankly it sounds like a new hobby for 911-truthers.
What's more likely, that Thatcher, a chemist by trade, understood the science early on and recognised the dangers? Or that she was part of a NWO-style conspiracy to hold back human progress?
CH
For CG re Thatcher
02.02.2008 09:58
The info we have so far is that this started during the miners strike, Thatcher needed to talk up nuclear power which at the time was disliked by the majority of the population. Conservative central office looked at a number of ways that coal could be slagged off and nuclear made to shine. At the same time she was under pressure from BP who were seeing their share price fall because of the new fields being found at the revised oil exploration techniques which allowed fields to release nearly 90% of their oil compared to the old 40%.
The enviroment was chosen as the unlikely target, Imperial College and the Met Office had already seen the begining of solar influenced climate change and so the whole myth of carbon driven climate change started. Now of course to question this theory is near heresy and anybody who does so is persona non grata as far as the UK activist community is concerned hence this group keeps a low profile and makes little fuss.
Hope this helps
rik
rik