edelm

this is a tag for evil edelman PR co<div>
</div><div>=</div><div>art page award ebh</div><div>
</div><div><div>2014 HALL OF FAME</div><div>Richard Edelman</div><div>President & Chief Executive Officer</div></div><div></div><div>8/15</div><div>
</div><div>http://www.desmog.uk/2015/07/31/edelman-pr-s-ties-fracking-and-climate-denial-still-cause-concern-new-petitions-show</div><div>
</div><div>Edelman PR’s credibility continues to wane as two separate petitions highlight the company’s ongoing support for the fossil fuel industry – in particular, its relationship as <a href="https://www.taskforceonshalegas.uk/constitution" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">secretariat</a> to the Task Force on Shale Gas.Anti-fracking campaign group Talk Fracking have produced a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By47aEKphU7MZUdFc0FtZ3dZSVk/view" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">statement</a> and encouraged groups and individuals to pledge their support to stop the government listening to the Task Force, which is <a href="https://www.taskforceonshalegas.uk/funding" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">funded by Cuadrilla and other big companies</a> in the oil and gas industry.The open letter was drawn up in reaction to the publication of the <a href="https://www.taskforceonshalegas.uk/reports" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">Task Force’s second report</a> and its stubborn refusal to answer the <a href="http://www.talkfracking.org/frackademics/letter-chris-smith/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">organisation’s letter</a>, sent on 17th March, asking questions about the nature of the <a href="http://www.prweek.com/article/1349537/edelman-media-zoo-pr-targeted-anti-fracking-protesters" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">Task Force’s relationship with PR company Edelman</a>, which <a href="http://www.energylivenews.com/2013/08/23/mps-lobby-group-denies-fracking-funding/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">used to be the secretariat</a> for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Unconventional Oil and Gas.Edelman is known for its controversial work with oil giants Shell and Chevron. And, until very recently, its clients also included the American Petroleum Institute (API) – the oil industry’s primary lobbying group.Controlling the DebateTalk Fracking’s letter argues that the UK Government should ignore the findings of the Task Force and should consider its reports nothing more than “untrustworthy propaganda”.Talk Fracking claims that the recent report, published on 15th July, is simply “an attempt to reinforce the oil and gas industry’s long-running rhetoric that the damage done by fracking overseas can be mitigated here in the UK should we employ ‘gold standard regulations’ that will somehow make safe an inherently risky, dirty, dangerous practice.”<a href="http://www.desmog.uk/2015/01/06/frack-public-shale-uk-gets-us-style-pr-makeover" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">The Task Force for Shale Gas</a> was established in September 2014. <a href="https://www.taskforceonshalegas.uk/about-the-task-force" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">Lord Chris Smith</a>, who was chair of the Environment Agency from 2008 to 2014, is the current chair of the Task Force.Despite the Task Force’s latest report saying that fracking companies should disclose all chemicals used in the process, Joseph Corre, the founder of Talk Fracking, remains unconvinced.“When somebody says ‘Oh look here I am, I am going to be objective and I am going to say what’s fair’ you have got to remember they are funded by the oil and gas industry.”“All this token horse play around them admitting when chemicals are being used is nonsense. This is all part of controlling the debate… What they really should be talking about is: what are they going to do with that? What are they going to do with the wastewater? Where is it going to go? Where are they actually going to get the water to go ahead with fracking in the first place? So these are all things that the Task Force, if they were objective, would be looking at.”Tobacco TacticsTalk Fracking fears that “with Edelman behind the Task Force on Shale Gas, PR tactics developed in the sixties to dismiss smoking health concerns are now being used in relation to fracking.”The PR firm has a long history of working with the tobacco industry. In the 1970s, it proposed an “aggressive” public relations campaign to help tobacco company RJ Reynolds undermine perceptions of smoking’s health hazards.While Edelman now refuses to represent tobacco companies, it continues to work with fossil fuel companies and apply the same PR tactics.Broken PromisesIn August 2014, some of the world’s biggest PR firms issued a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/04/worlds-top-pr-companies-rule-out-working-with-climate-deniers" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">declaration</a> stating that they would not represent clients who deny manmade climate change or take campaigns seeking to block regulations limiting carbon pollution. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/07/edelman-pr-climate-change-denial-campaigns" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">Edelman eventually responded, confirming</a> that “we do not accept client assignments that aim to deny climate change.”However, in November last year, Greenpeace Canada obtained details of an <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/leaked-edelman-transcanadas-pr-attack-plan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">aggressive plan</a> to recruit 35,000 online ‘activists’ to sway public opinion in favour of the TransCanada tar sands pipeline.In February this year, it was thought that Edelman was making progress. It was unveiled in February that Edelman had<a href="http://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/edelman%27s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">gradually cut its ties</a> with America’s powerful oil lobbyist, the API, after it was reported that the subsidiary company (Blue Advertising) that handled the bulk of its advertising contracts with API – worth $327.4 million – is, eventually, to cut itself off from Edelman’s central operations.But, fresh doubts have been cast on the credibility of its supposed change in attitude after <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jul/07/pr-edelman-climate-change-lost-executives-clients" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">four high-level executives have resigned from Edelman</a> in the last two months because of the company’s refusal to stop working for the fossil fuel industry.In light of this news, campaigners have launched a separate <a href="http://act.credoaction.com/sign/edelman/?utm_content=buffer7b282&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">petition</a> to tell Edelman to stop “promoting” climate change. The petition was launched on CREDO Action – a social change organisation funded by CREDO Mobile – which has over 27,000 signatories. It says: “The fact is, in the face of the overwhelming evidence on climate change, any attempt to continue promoting fossil fuels and fossil fuel expansion is outright denial.”<a href="https://twitter.com/benjameslucas" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">@benjameslucas</a></div><div></div><div><div id="intro" style="font-size: 15px; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Helvetica; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="text-content"><a href="http://worldreport.holmesreport.com/top-250" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Annual Income From Fees in 2012</a>: $665,600,000<a href="http://www.odwyerpr.com/magazine/odwyers-magazine-february-2014.pdf" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Net Fees Income from Environmental Practice in 2012</a>: $13,678,493 (2.1% of total)Address: 200 E Randolph Street #63 Chicago, IL Phone: (312) 240-3000Contents:<ul style="margin: 1.2em 0px;"><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/edelman-pr#background" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Background Resources</a></li><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/edelman-pr#synopsis" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Climate Survey Response Synopsis</a></li><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/edelman-pr#full" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Climate Survey Full Response</a></li><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a title="Clients and campaigns" href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/edelman-pr#Clients-and-campaigns" target="self" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Clients and campaigns</a></li></ul><hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.298039); clear: both; height: 0px; margin: 20px 0px;" />Edelman History (by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Edelman" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Sourcewatch</a>):Edelman is the largest independently owned PR company. In May 2012, PRWeek reported that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">corporate legislation mill</a>, <a href="http://www.prweekus.com/article/under-fire-advocacy-group-alec-works-edelman/1279251" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">hired Edelman</a> to "help it deal with recent corporate fallout and opposition to its legislative positions." Edelman was also hired by a <a href="http://www.odwyerpr.com/blog/?/archives/4999-Edelman-Works-Slaughterhouse-Crisis.html=" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">California slaughterhouse</a> in August 2012 after several of their biggest customers severed supply agreements upon the discovery of video footage showing animal abuse.On July 16, 2008, activists with Oxford Climate Action <a href="http://www.cherwell.org/features/2009/09/09/getting-naked-at-climate-camp" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">blockaded Edelman's headquarters</a>. Several protestors gained access to the firm's offices while others climbed onto the roof to unfurl a banner reading "Edelman: Spinning The Climate Out Of Control.” The protest was a result of the news that Edelman PR was hired by E.ON, the world’s largest investor-owned energy service provider.Today a leader in pharmaceutical PR, in 1987 Edelman also produced a <a href="http://www.tobaccotactics.org/index.php/Edelman" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">PR plan</a> for an international tobacco industry group made up of the major worldwide tobacco companies and their associated trade organizations. In 2005 PRWeek revealed that Edelman was working with the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry's primary lobbying group.<h4 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><a id="background" style="color: rgb(73, 77, 88);">Background Resources on Edelman PR</a></h4><ul style="margin: 1.2em 0px;"><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Daniel_J.Edelman,Inc." style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Sourcewatch</a></li><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a title="DeSmogBlog on Edelman" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/search/google/edelman?query=edelman&cx=010071853556961239608%3Apfdia-m7na8&cof=FORID%3A11&sitesearch=" target="blank" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">DeSmogBlog</a></li></ul><h4 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><a id="synopsis" style="color: rgb(73, 77, 88);">Climate Survey Response Synopsis</a></h4>Managing Director of Global Engagement and Corporate Responsibility John Edelman responded to our survey. Although Edelman neither confirms nor denies the threat of climate change, he cites Edelman PR's membership in the <a href="http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/index.html" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">United Nations Global Compact</a>. Edelman provides a link to the firms Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report and refers to it as the source for the answer to each question he was posed. He also stated that while Edelman PR provides a number of CSR and environmental services to its clients, he is not at liberty to discuss the details of such efforts.<hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.298039); clear: both; height: 0px; margin: 20px 0px;" />We received an accidental email response to our survey from Mark Hass, then President and CEO of Edelman U.S.  <a title="Mark Hass Steps down from Edelman" href="http://adage.com/article/agency-news/edelman-u-s-ceo-mark-hass-step/292794/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Hass left Edelman in mid April</a>, a few weeks after sending this email: <div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hass, Mark <mark.hass edelman.com="edelman.com">
Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: Climate Investigations Center inquiry
To: Climate Investigations Center <info climateinvestigations.org="climateinvestigations.org">
Cc: "Petros, Peter" <peter.petros edelman.com="edelman.com">, "Edelman, John" <john.edelman edelman.com="edelman.com">, "Rehg, Rob" <rob.rehg edelman.com="edelman.com">, "Bush, Michael" <michael.bush edelman.com="edelman.com">

<div><div>I don't believe we are obligated in any way to respond. There are only wrong answers for this guy. </div><div><div class="h5"><div>
On Apr 4, 2014, at 10:06 AM, "Climate Investigations Center" <<a href="mailto:info@climateinvestigations.org" target="blank" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">info@climateinvestigations.org</a>> wrote:</div><blockquote><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra">Dear Mr. Hass et al.,Attached is a letter sent to Edleman this week by USPS certified mail.</div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></michael.bush></rob.rehg></john.edelman></peter.petros></info></mark.hass></div></blockquote><div lang="EN-US"><div class="h5">Mr. Hass' staff quickly responded that they were working on a response to our Survey:<blockquote>From: Rehg, Rob <rob.rehg edelman.com="edelman.com" />Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 12:37 PM
Subject: RE: Climate Investigations Center inquiry
To: "Hass, Mark" <mark.hass edelman.com="edelman.com">, Climate Investigations Center <info climateinvestigations.org="climateinvestigations.org">
Cc: "Petros, Peter" <peter.petros edelman.com="edelman.com">, "Edelman, John" <john.edelman edelman.com="edelman.com">, "Bush, Michael" <michael.bush edelman.com="edelman.com" /></john.edelman></peter.petros></info></mark.hass><div lang="EN-US">Mark, I’m working with John on this … we’ll provide information on our carbon reduction policies and progress made… Can talk with you when you get out of your event this afternoon.</div></blockquote><div lang="EN-US"><hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.298039); clear: both; height: 0px; margin: 20px 0px;" /><a id="full" style="color: rgb(73, 77, 88);">Climate Survey Full Response</a></div></div></div></div>Please find the answers to your questionnaire dated April 2, 2014 below. Edelman is a member of the United National Global Compact and we align with the environmental principles outlined in the Compact. Our UN Communication on Progress can be found <a href="http://www.unglobalcompact.org/participant/3128-Edelman" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Here</a>.Does your company acknowledge the threat and challenge of climate change as companies like Walmart, CocaCola, Apple, Google, AIG, Swiss Re, NRG, Unilever and others have done?<blockquote>We align with United Nations Global Compact principles and produce an annual GRI report in which we report our environmental and CSR policies and results. Our FY13 Report can be found <a href="http://www.edelman.com/fy13-citizenship-report/" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">here</a>.</blockquote>Does your company have any internal carbon accounting policies or energy use reduction targets? Have you taken actions to reduce your “carbon footprint”?<blockquote>Yes, we report our <a href="http://www.edelman.com/fy13-citizenship-report/our-world/sustainability-managing-our-footprint-on-the-planet/" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">carbon footprint results and our environmental targets</a> through our annual Citizenship Report.</blockquote>Does your company have an internal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy regarding climate change or the environment generally?<blockquote>Yes, we have an internal <a href="http://www.edelman.com/fy13-citizenship-report/our-world/sustainability-managing-our-footprint-on-the-planet/" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">CSR policy around environment</a>. </blockquote>Has your agency advised any client corporations on communications around CSR programs with a specific climate change focus, or on other climate change related public relations efforts?<blockquote>We provide a variety of CSR and environmental services to a number of clients, but we cannot disclose information on specific clients.</blockquote>Best,John EdelmanManaging Director, Global Engagement and Corporate ResponsibilityEdelman200 E. Randolph StreetChicago, IL 60601<hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.298039); clear: both; height: 0px; margin: 20px 0px;" /><a name="Clients-and-campaigns" style="color: rgb(73, 77, 88);">Clients and campaigns</a>Responding to demand for positive marketing around environmental issues, Edelman created a ‘green’ wing called<a href="http://www.edelman.com/practice/business-social-purpose/" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;"> Edelman Social Purpose</a>. This unit is small in comparison to the firm's other units.Alliance for Northwest Jobs and Exports (2012) <a style="color: rgb(73, 77, 88);">Coal export terminal</a> fight in the northwest backed by coal industry (Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, Ambre?). American Petroleum Institute (2005-current)<ul style="margin: 1.2em 0px;"><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a href="http://energycitizens.org/ec/advocacy/default.aspx" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Energy Citizens</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy_Citizens" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">campaign</a>: “I’m an Energy Voter” (2009-present) including an <a style="color: rgb(73, 77, 88);">Ohio pro-fracking fight in</a> 2012 that incorporated newspaper and Metro ads</li><li style="list-style-type: square;"><a href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/vote4energy.org" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">Vote4Energy</a> (2012): Election cycle campaign within Energy Citizens campaign</li><li style="list-style-type: square;">Keystone XL pipeline fight (2013)</li></ul>American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) (2012), as reported by PR Week and other sources.  Not a public facing advertising campaign.The oil and gas industry launched an <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/01/tea-party-fracking-industry-astroturf-campaign-mansfield-oh-community-bill-of-rights-referendum" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">astroturf campaign</a> via a new group called “Mansfielders for Jobs,” which may have been founded by Energy Citizens, a front group of API and a PR campaign dreamed up by Edelman. <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/edelman-oilsands-advice-embarrassing-and-just-plain-wrong" style="color: rgb(9, 45, 92); text-decoration: none;">"Edelman Oilsands advice - embarrassing and wrong"</a>: PR expert calls Edelman out for suggesting that developers of the Alberta tar sands have a public relations problem curable with better communications.</div></div><div id="like_page" style="clear: both; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Do you like this page?</div></div><div></div><div>3/15</div><div>
</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Perhaps you heard the good news—the world’s largest public relations firm, Edelman, just <a href="http://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/edelman" s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end="s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">spun off an advertising subsidiary</a> so that it could show a commitment to not aiding the denial of<a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">climate change</a> science. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/19/edelman-public-relations-ends-relationship-american-petroleum-institute" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">The Guardian</a> explains how American Petroleum Institute’s (API) contracts with Edelman were so massive—tens of millions of dollars—that it was up to 10 percent of the PR giant’s income.[images gone]<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For years, Edelman has managed multi-million dollar contracts with the API, using its Blue Advertising subsidiary to help API run commercials selling fantasies to people: that oil and gas are our only viable, plentiful, “AMERICAN” sources of energy.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the saga that led Edelman to dump the lobbyists at API, <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Greenpeace</a> had a small role to play: we infiltrated a commercial shoot, run by Edelman’s Blue advertising arm for API. The commercials were to be called “Vote 4 Energy,” casting the illusion of mass popular demand for more oil and gas drilling (and more pollution, more climate change, and more government giveaways to prop it all up).<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After being dressed up in a button-down, plaid orange shirt—I’m not sure what look they had in mind for me—I was put in front of the camera and told to repeat lines back. This despite the casting call for “real people, not actors.” Huh.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Instead of telling them “I Vote” for oil and gas, I ran off script and demanded a prioritization of<a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">clean energy</a>, not continued pandering to oil lobbyists at API. As I was ushered off set, the person I appealed to for a clean energy future was <a href="http://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/edelman" s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end="s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Robert McKernan</a>, <a href="http://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/edelman" s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end="s-american-petroleum-institute-assignment-set-to-end" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">president of Blue Advertising</a>, the company that Edelman is ditching. He was the last person I saw before being booted out of the studio rooms, and as we locked eyes, <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/upcoming-american-petroleum-institute-vote-4-/blog/38291/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">I appealed directly to him</a>: “we need clean sources of energy, like wind and solar.” Here’s a transcribed recording of that on-set disruption:</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Shockingly, API and Edelman didn’t stop the commercial shoot there and reinvent it into an appeal for clean energy (yes, that’s sarcasm). And as Edelman and API moved forward with the commercial, Greenpeace got another idea.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On the day that API’s commercials debuted, Greenpeace created and released a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/05/i-vote-4-energy-video-spoof-api_n_1186400.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">fake Vote4Energy commercial</a>, mocking their bizarre message with parody oil executives dismissing clean energy and using empty patriotic jargon: “I vote for prosperous American liberty jobs for Freedom.”</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We crashed API’s launch event for Vote4Energy, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeaceusa09/sets/72157628720999505/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">rolling out an astroturf mat</a> for politicians and lobbyists to make their entrance, framed by oil company logos. Online, we buried their actual website with our spoof material and drove more traffic to our fake commercial. Some journalists actually linked to our silly video in their stories about API’s Vote4Energy campaign.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This was in January, 2012. Since then, big things have happened at Edelman.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Edelman’s Make-Or-Break Moment<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fast forward to last fall, 2014: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/business/media/edelman-pr-firm-is-taking-steps-to-address-faux-pas-.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Edelman suffered a months-long PR crisis</a>—the last thing a PR firm wants—over its representation of API and other climate science denial organizations. Edelman’s chairman, Richard Edelman, hastily put out a <a href="http://www.edelman.com/p/6-a-m/edelmans-position-climate-change/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">statement</a> affirming his company’s commitment to climate change.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mr. Edelman was <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-worlds-biggest-pr-firm-is-in-denial-about-its-climate-change-denial" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">personally urging the press</a> that he cared about the issue, and fired a top executive who was uncooperative with the <a href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/edelman_submits_new_answers_to_cic_climate_change_quiz" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Climate Investigations Center</a>, which was surveying PR firms on their climate change policies. It was <a href="http://www.climateinvestigations.org/wbez_interview_pr_firm_edelman_faces_pr_scandal" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">awkward</a>.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The mess was intensified by another round of <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/11/20/leaked-edelman-transcanadas-pr-attack-plan/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">documents showing Edelman was helping TransCanada</a>—the operator of the proposed <a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/keystone-xl-pipeline-2/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Keystone XL</a> tar sands pipeline—with campaign planning to subvert local activism in Canada against TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline. After the plan was leaked, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/business/transcanada-cuts-ties-with-edelman-over-energy-east-communications-plan.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">TransCanada dumped Edelman</a>.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It seems that Big Oil is starting to be a Big Headache for Big PR. Of course, there are still plenty of public relations firms with little to no moral standard out there, unrecognized by the public, for Big Oil to pay for dirty PR.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But for the world’s largest firm to take some meaningful steps to throw in the towel on climate denial indicates a precedent for an industry that most activists wouldn’t have bothered to spend time trying to change.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And it’s a good thing, because climate scientists aren’t getting any less distressed about our changed climate. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is getting desperate enough to officially <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/10/geoengineering-should-not-be-used-as-a-climate-fix-yet-says-us-science-academy" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">call for “unproven technology”</a> in attempts to mitigate the crisis. Despite the weight of the crisis, which is just getting started, coal companies, oil companies, the Koch brothers and their <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/17022015/coal-states-building-wall-red-tape-resist-epas-clean-power-plan" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(67, 146, 65); transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">legion of front groups are creating layers of red tape</a> to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, the first regulation of carbon emissions from existing power plants.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Perhaps there’s a slick PR firm out there willing to make right of its past and do something productive for the climate, and all of us who rely upon it.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Edelman: you’re up. Show us you mean it this time.</div><div>==</div>