Chevron’s Approach
Chevron’s public relations campaign Will You Join Us is an attempt similar to BP’s public relations campaign to engage the public on issues of oil consumption and climate change.
As I’ve mentioned before, public perception plays a critical part in the march towards more sustainable practices. However, companies like Chevron need to remember that talk only gets you so far: at some point they need to act, and in their actions we will be able to determine whether or not they truly mean what they say. As ClimateBiz points out:
But others say the friendly “letters from Dave” approach is a classic case of corporate greenwashing as Chevron attempts to shore up Big Oil’s threatened power base with calculated public relations language. Some environmentalists argue the effort and investment would have been better spent cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
I’m somewhat undecided on the last sentence. On the one hand, yes, a lot of money could have been spent on improving internal systems and efficiency measures and the like. However, consider that spending money on raising public perception is in itself an investment. On the one hand it is critical in the overall scheme of sustainability that lots of people understand the issues at stake, so general education is a good thing. On the other hand, now that the public is becoming aware of these issues, it may begin to punish those companies which it doesn’t think are participating in the issues it is concerned about. Simply put, companies cannot remain silent on these issues any longer.
But talking the talk will get companies only so far: the true test remains when we see which companies actually walk the walk.