EDITORIAL: Social (Media) Warfare: Industry and Interests Vie for Your Support (But Not Energy Literacy)

An article I wrote concerning the public relations battle regarding energy has been featured exclusively at The Energy Collective: Social (Media) Warfare in the Energy Industry. An introduction is below:

By Jesse Parent | 19 July 2012

The latest wave of attempts at trying to garner public favor includes various campaigns and slogans illustrates how important energy issues have become in America. But it is a discussion that remains fueled by stoking emotional reactions, sympathetic appeals, or satirical snarkiness - rather than engaging the difficult task of addressing our energy future. I write here as a means to further energy literacy, and more broadly (hopefully) media literacy.

The viral “ArcticReady.com” was an effort spearheaded by Greenpeace, with ‘user-generated slogans’ like: “Some say catastrophe, we say opportunity!”. It takes aim at the energy industry, notably Shell, by allowing (or having allowed for a time), commenting as well as user-generated slogans with Shell logos. The comment page was laced with a mock-benevolent welcome:

We’ve created a tool that allows you to share your ideas, from ways to make this site better to ideas for further reducing our impact on the marine environment and the Eskimo people who call it home.

Please, take a moment to add your thoughts, because we want to hear from every one of you.

Mock “User Generated Slogan”, visible on arcticready.com

The ‘Let’s Go! Arctic’ campaign was complete with a mock ‘PR event video’, which also turned out to be a complete failure, making ‘Shell’ look profoundly inept.

The energy industry, as a whole, is vying to look its best and represent itself as a functioning, reasonable part of American life. There are many attempts from competing facets, companies, and sectors – as well as interest groups both inside and outside the industry – to look good, to reach out, and to meaningfully connect with people on abstract topics. This is particularly the case on the big name issues – like Keystone XL, shale gas development, the arctic, and energy security (or “energy independence“). The implications for this year’s election season are also vast, with much political polarization about how environmental regulations could benefit or harm the economy, and other parts of life and society.

Continue to the full article at The Energy Collective: Social (Media) Warfare in the Energy Industry

Jesse Parent is a researcher, analyst, and editor focusing on energy & resources, technology, and global affairs. For more of Jesse’s thoughts throughout the week and to see what news he’s following, you are invited to join the conversation via Twitter and Facebook. Visit Jesse Parent [INFLUENCE] to view Case Studies, Commentary and more.

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