Corporate Green

“Will you join us?” It’s a strange question when not coming from a Hare Krishna. Asked by an oil company beckoning travelers to become more energy efficient to combat global warming, this query is a strange but welcome sign of the times. (Although some global warming doubters among us may still see it as a cultish invitation.)

A recent trip into the D.C. Metro (subway) found me surrounded by profound faces stating, “I will at least consider a hybrid” and “I will commute more with others” and “I will leave the car at home more.” While not intuitively obvious how this promotes Chevron gasoline, the cynical among us (i.e. me 98% of the time) will see this as a brilliant PR ploy. The company knows that most of those commuting on Washington’s mass transit still have a car back at their house. If Chevron can become known as the “good” oil guys, the guilt of their customers will be assuaged and a few folks might even cross the street to avoid the “bad” Exxon station. (You have one little environmental catastrophe in the 80s and some people just can’t seem to move on.)

Of course Exxon is fighting back by putting its scientists on TV to show how all those record profits lead to fabulous scientific breakthroughs. BP turns to the “man on the street” with the “It’s a start” campaign highlighting their alternative energy programs. One could almost forget that energy companies were funding “what, me worry” groups just a few short years ago. Perhaps that is the point.

Yet, we should not merely get lost in the green-washing nature of these ad blitzes. Companies change strategies because they see where the market is going. When their market, namely everyone with a car, began to feel more peeved than assured by the climate change denial shtick, the profit maximizing companies shifted course. And even cynical me will allow that a few at the top may have truly become convinced that converting gigatons of carbon from an underground liquid to atmospheric CO2 has a downside.

Fifteen years ago (ouch) as an undergrad at Texas A&M, I took a newly offered class called Environmental Marketing. It turned out to sound more interesting than it actually was in practice, but it gave me one lasting memory.

Charged with investigating the contemporary use of enviro-advertising, my group-project team swung for the fences. Chevron had recently introduced a tepid (but groundbreaking) campaign highlighting their donation of old pipe to serve as habitat for some endangered critter (I think it was even a fox---insert your own sly comment here). The tag line was, “Do people really [do some amazingly unselfish thing just so some dumb animal can have a home]? People do.” Fade to Chevron logo.

Having seen one energy oligarch dip its toe into the green waters, we thought we’d call up another and see if they’d be jumping in soon too. Eventually we got through to the marketing department of a petro-giant in Houston. We excitedly asked whether they had any plans to use green themes.

I don’t know if you can technically hear a blank stare, but it was clearly communicated. Finally, a middle aged male voice slowly and incredulously told this group of naïve 20-somethings the hard facts of life: “No. We’re an oil company.”

My inner cynic wisely keeps me from fully giving my heart to the gas station that really cares. But, approaching middle age myself, the un-prophetic words of a weary corporate bureaucrat remind me that companies and political parties can change for the better.