Google Blogoscoped

Forum

To Explain the Beyond Petroleum Logo...  (View post)

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

Wednesday, April 26, 2006
18 years ago17,364 views

Thank-you, Philip!! I didn't even realize at first it was connected with BP, but I understand now.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Actually, the ad's for BP runs here too.. its basically the intentions of lowing dependence on fossil fuels and moving towards other fuel alternatives that are eco friendly .. and yes CHEAPER!! :)-

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I could live with CHEAPER fuels!!

Kevin Fox [PersonRank 4]

18 years ago #

I'm a very strong proponent for environmentalism, but I'm even more a proponent for well-reasoned and fair arguments. As happy as I'd be to see BP's hypocrisy laid bare, the second link you cited points to a highly flawed and biased analysis. It compares apples to oranges (belittling wind power because it requires more land than oil refining, ignoring the renewable aspects of it and the environmental impact of oil drilling and transport), and claims that BP's research efforts are irrelevant because their current alternative energy production is so small (hello, 'research'!).

Worse, he fudges numbers, comparing 5 years of expenditure against 12 years of gross revenues and comparing both against the company's valuation, which is a completely illogical comparison.

The worst way to try and combat evil is to lower ourselves to their own abusive techniques of misrepresentation. Ick.

Haochi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I only know they sale gas...And I see some ads on USAtoday newspaper...

Justin Pfister [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I'm fairly surprised to see this sort of post on Philipp's Blog but the fact that he put the BP Logo and related articles up there does suggest he's given it some thought. It's my experience that Philipp is extremely detailed and thought out with his posts. The fact that he posts these articles definitely makes me more open to what he's saying.

As Kevid, PD and others suggest – I'm still skeptical. My grandpa was a lifetime employee at Amoco / BP and he's passed down to me BP stock. I read about BP and think about energy and the world all the time. I consciously hold their stock and I feel pretty good about.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Kevin if it came across like I think those articles are the truth and nothing but, no, I didn't mean that at all by linking to them! My gripes with BP were solely based on the heavy advertising campaign and the way they present themselves in it – as environmentalists trying to educate people on global warming, and not a big petroleum company. It's an obvious rebranding strategy, and I actually believe actions – their improvement of how they conduct business – are part of this rebranding (which is cynical, but good for the environment). I trust your opinion on the second article (I don't have an opinion on it and only found the introductory arguments about the campaign of interest here).

To clarify, the intent with the logo was NOT to criticize BP (that might have been a side-effect) – it was intended to be a humorous "pseudo-advertisement" message, like the previous "100% Weblog Guaranteed" I had up there for a while. However, when I heard that many people didn't know the BP campaign I felt it necessary to link to some articles explaining their campaign in context. I might have chosen "washes whiter than white" which would have been less controversial, it's only that the BP campaign is pushing itself heavily into German media, and this was how I digested it.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

And Justin, good to see you back!

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Updated the post to include Kevin's comments.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Yes, philipp. It is a rebranding strategy. They want to be known as a company which is eco friendly by 2020 and needless to say be far away from the world "oil"!!

Justin Pfister [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

The one thing I love about this forum is that people who speak sincerely are welcomed with open arms. +1 Digg ;)

AN [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

Strange, I live in Germany and I've never heard of this campaign.

Brandon Byers [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

It sometimes confuses me just how different things are geographically. I've seen no such BP campaing, though I live in Houston, Texas.

That said, over the last few years I've seen a giant campaign by Shell, showing blue water and white beaches and pretty scenery; it's clear they're re-branding themselves as not an oil company, but an *energy* company, and a trying-to-be eco-friendly one at that.

Shoot, Shell has H2 stations in Iceland, where they sell hydrogen fuel for large trucks and buses. So don't be surprised if 15 years from now our gee-whiz wonderful fuel comes from the same people selling us oil today. That's what they're hoping for anyway. And that's why they've dropped the word "oil" and replaced it with "energy."

But back to geography ... here in Houston, the gas stations I see are Valero (was diamond shamrock), Citgo, Chevron, Texaco, Shell, Exxon ... and I think that's it.

So imagine my surprise when I drive to Florida (last May) and see BP gas stations. I'd seen the BP logo for years, but I never knew they actually had stations ... they sure don't have 'em in Texas.

Geography tends to limit our view of the world, obviously. We know what we see around us, and tend to draw conclusions about everywhere else that are mostly wrong. Which's why I love how the internet, and various tools therein, breaks geographic boundaries (tries to, at least). My fear is that this won't last forever, and at some point we'll be forced back into the same stupid boundaries (and therefore limited thinking & knowledge) as before.

Forum home

Advertisement

 
Blog  |  Forum     more >> Archive | Feed | Google's blogs | About
Advertisement

 

This site unofficially covers Google™ and more with some rights reserved. Join our forum!