17/10/2002

ART ATTACK
Friends of the Earth slam National Gallery over Esso sponsorship

Tuesday 15 October -- Madame de Pompadour joined Friends of the Earth activists in a protest against Esso’s sponsorship of the National Gallery exhibition: “Madame de Pompadour: images of a mistress”, which opened this week.

Friends of the Earth told visitors to the National Gallery about Esso’s appalling environmental record - parent company ExxonMobil has been branded “the world’s worst climate villain” by environmental groups. FOE is also calls on the National Gallery not take any more money from Esso.

Friends of the Earth Energy Campaigner, Nick Rau, said:
“Madame Pompadour was notorious for her ability to influence King Louis XV and his Court at Versailles. Three centuries later, Esso has gained notoriety for its ability to influence George W Bush in the White House. The arts need sponsorship - but shouldn’t be taking dirty money from global warming villains like Esso.”

Madame de Pompadour - Sponsored by Esso

Influence in the corridors of power
Welcome to the National Gallery’s exhibition ‘Madame de Pompadour’ – a woman notorious for her influence on 18th century France. The exhibition is sponsored by Esso - a company notorious for its influence on 21st century America.

Some say that royal mistress Madame de Pompadour was more powerful than the King. She replaced her enemies in court with her friends, was hated for her extravagance and blamed for the Seven Years' War.

Esso’s influence on George Bush threatens far more catastrophic consequences. Esso (ExxonMobil in the US) has spent millions of dollars to make US President George W Bush walk away from the Kyoto Protocol – the only international treaty to cut the emissions causing global warming - and launch a new energy plan based on the extravagant use of oil, coal and gas.

But we should be cutting our use of fossil fuels if we are to avert global warming. Otherwise we will change our world: raising sea levels and altering the weather, causing more floods, droughts and storms, creating millions of environmental refugees, and destroying ecosystems.

While Madame Pompadour made and unmade Ministers in Louis XV’s Court at Versailles, Esso makes and unmakes climate scientists. The company called on Bush to get rid of the UN’s top climate scientist Bob Watson. Esso didn’t like his strong statements on climate change. Lo and behold, Watson was replaced as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Exxon-funded groups even told George Bush not to attend the Earth Summit in Johannesburg – and he didn’t.

Esso – certainly no masterpiece
Madame de Pompadour patronised the arts, and paid artists and painters to create an image of herself to attain her social and political goals. Esso pays climate sceptics and lobby groups to confuse the debate about climate change, block cuts in emissions, and attain its goal of higher profits.

Esso and sponsorship
Esso gets good PR from sponsoring the arts. But that’s not going to stop global warming. Look behind Esso’s veneer – Don’t Buy Esso!

Friends of the Earth is a member of the StopEsso coalition

[Previous press release: "How to sabotage a Summit"]
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