In the same vein as the Shell viral video, in which a pro-Arctic drilling event ends with a mini "oil spill," prankster-activists have struck again. This time it's with a legitimate-looking Shell website calling for public involvement in a "crowdsourcing ad campaign" to help promote Arctic drilling.
The campaign, called Arctic Ready, features a "Let's Go! Social" component that offers 10 blank digital cards, each with a different arctic animal or scene, in which anyone can create a slogan. Things like "You can't run your SUV on cute," featuring an arctic fox with an naive gaze, doesn't immediately impress as the most convincing pro-drilling sentiment, but people are being fooled.
The News site UPI admits having fallen for the ads at first, but eventually found that Greenpeace and Yes Labs were behind the prank -- just as they were behind the PR mishap involved in that prank.
Taking credit for the campaign in a statement, Greenpeace wrote:
With help from the Yes Lab we built a special Arctic Ready website for Shell, which houses our new advertisements, plus a tool for you to create your own. Take a moment to choose a picture and add your own message – there are some great ones up already. We've even built a charming kids' game – Angry Bergs – to keep the littl'uns happy. Watch the dollars flood in as you protect your oil platform from those pesky natural hazards.