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NGOs shouldn't be underestimated PR Week (UK) Editorial Have corporates learnt nothing from their repeatedly bruising encounters with NGOs over the past few years? It would seem not, judging by Esso France's apparent decision to sue Greenpeace over the appropriation of its logo in its long-running Stop Esso campaign - a campaign which, it argues, is illegal and harmful to the Esso brand name. Full article NGOs shouldn't be underestimatedPR Week (UK) Editorial Have corporates learnt nothing from their repeatedly bruising encounters with NGOs over the past few years? It would seem not, judging by Esso France's apparent decision to sue Greenpeace over the appropriation of its logo in its long-running Stop Esso campaign - a campaign which, it argues, is illegal and harmful to the Esso brand name. Exxon Mobil, parent company of Esso, also takes a remarkable leap of imagination to claim that the dollars dollars resembles the symbol of Nazi SS - a connection many were unlikely to make until now. Esso must be unfamiliar with the legal wrangle between 'McLibel' activists Dave Morris and Helen Steel and McDonald's, a case dubbed by Channel 4 News as 'the biggest corporate PR disaster in history' (and named by a PRWeek panel as one of the top 'consumer' campaigns of all time). If it was, it would think twice about playing straight into NGOs' hands. Already Greenpeace, which has thrived on controversy, is claiming the decision to sue as an admission that the campaign is 'having an effect'. Anyone who has doubts about the power of NGOs should look no further than the forthcoming Earth Summit, at which groups including Friends of the Earth are calling for a global Geneva Convention-style CSR treaty, forcing firms to adopt best practice and be accountable for their treatment of employees, communities and the environment. The Bush administration may well scupper any concerted effort to put immediate pressure on the international business community, but NGOs will be heard. Meanwhile, here in the UK, a consortium of NGOs lies behind the recent launch of a Private Member's Bill aiming to force through mandatory social and environmental reporting. Underestimating NGOs and pressure groups in this day and age is a dangerous strategy.
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Latest Campaign News KYOTO MARCH - Saturday 12 February 2005 In February the Kyoto Protocol finally comes into force. Join the Campaign Against Climate Change on a march in central London to mark the occassion by protesting the US' refusal to join the Protocol. Assemble at Lincoln's Inn Fields at 11.30. For more information go to www.campaign againstclimatechange.net Esso up to old tricks on Kyoto Governments from around the world met in Buenos Aires to discuss protecting the climate under the Kyoto Protocol. Greenpeace sent a delegation to the conference to keep an eye on the activities of Esso and other fossil fuel lobbies.more "Global warming is a conspiracy against America" As a taste of what is to come during a second Bush term Myron Ebell, an advisor to President Bush on climate issues, recently argued that global warming is a myth cooked up by the EU to 'hamper American competitiveness'... more Russia Ratifies The Russian parliament have voted to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which brings the treaty into force... more Chief Scientist: we need immediate action on climate change "Action is affordable, inaction is certainly not," says Sir David King, the UK governments chief scientist...more |
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