WASHINGTON - Dec 20, 2011 - Audio recorded during an American Petroleum Institute (API) commercial shoot reveals how the oil industry plans to stage citizen support for its agenda to influence the 2012 elections. The ads, which API officials said will launch in January and air during CNN's election coverage, aim to demonstrate authentic citizen support for the oil industry's agenda. However, audio recordings taken by activists inside the TV commercial shoot reveal that the ads are highly scripted, as one production assistant said: "the director feeds them the lines" after they "put them in costumes."
Audio recordings also expose API fretting about what "opponents of the oil and natural gas industry" could use against them with these ads, as well as one Greenpeace activist who refused to read from the script and expressed his own opinions to API. Additional audio recordings taken during the same API ad shoot by the Checks and Balances Project reveal how any deviation from its script was refused, despite the invitation for participants to "express their views in a Commercial Spot on American Made Energy!"
"The oil industry's agenda is extremely unpopular - keeping huge taxpayer subsidies while raking in tens of billions in profits, blocking clean energy and climate change policies, and keeping America addicted to fossil fuels by expanding tar sands pipelines, fracking, and offshore oil drilling," said Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies. "That's why the American Petroleum Institute has to fake citizen support for Big Oil's agenda with these scripted ads and astroturf front groups."
The American Petroleum Institute has been repeatedly caught faking citizen support for the oil industry's agenda. In 2009, Greenpeace exposed a confidential memo from API CEO Jack Gerard, asking member oil companies to send employees to API coordinated rallies, and warning "Please treat this information as sensitive... We don't want critics to know our game plan." These so-called "Energy Citizens" rallies, which the New York Times called "Another Astroturf Campaign," were aimed at defeating climate change legislation. API was also caught photoshopping a stock image of workers to appear more ethnically diverse.
"Seeing Big Oil's propaganda machine from the inside showed me how carefully the industry crafts their message. Staffers from the American Petroleum Institute and its PR company managed the smallest details of this misleading ad to give the appearance that Americans agree with the CEOs of companies like BP, Exxon, and Shell," said Connor Gibson, the Greenpeace activist who recorded the audio.
Recordings from Inside the American Petroleum Institute Commercial Shoot
API details commercial deal with CNN (to listen, click http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/api-audio/APIexplainsCNN.mp3)
API: "Just so you know, I don't know how much they told you, but this is scheduled to launch in January in a commercial on CNN, so it'll be a national spot...API--American Petroleum Institute, uh, bought into an election package so anytime CNN does anything like covering the presidential debates, cover a caucus, anything like that, those will be the kinds of programs where the commercial is seen."
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Production assistant explains how they put people in costumes and feed them lines (to listen, click http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/api-audio/directorfeed.mp3)
“No they put them in costumes and then the makeup lady takes care of them and then they walk them out, and all they do is the director feeds them the lines and he talks them through it. It’s…he’ll be fine.”
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API concerned that opponents might use the ads against them (to listen, click http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/api-audio/careful.mp3)
API: "And I'm sure they checked with you but you're a registered voter and all that stuff?"
Gibson: "Yeah, they asked me. I don't know how you check that, but I am."
API: "We, um...the only reason is really a lot of the, you know, the script is saying "I vote," "I vote for energy," "I vote for..." so, we at least want to be genuine in the sense that you are a registered voter. As you can imagine, there are some opponents of the oil and natural gas industry and so we always have to be very careful of, you know, what our opponents could use against us. And that is, you know, if they found out that we were using people who aren't actually registered voters, or not even eighteen, or whatever, so..."
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API says chance of being in commercial depends on the demographic (to listen, click http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/api-audio/demographic.mp3)
API: “And so to your point though, we are shooting a ton of people so, you know, you may make the cut, you may not, it all depends on the demographic.”
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API reveals commercial debut date (to listen, click http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/api-audio/commerciallaunches.mp3)
Greenpeace activist: “So what date is this going to launch?”
API: “Um, January first.”
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Greenpeace activist Connor Gibson strays from API script (to listen, click http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/api-audio/GreenpeaceconfrontsAPI.mp3)
Director, prompting the first scripted line: “Smile, deep breath... ‘I vote.’”
Gibson: “I vote. But I am a clean energy citizen. I do not believe in the lies and influence peddling of the American Petroleum Institute, which would lead you to believe that I am a citizen that is okay with giving my taxpayer dollars to the billionaires and millionaires that run oil companies, the most profitable industry on the planet. The American Petroleum Institute is peddling its influence to make you think people like me are fully in support of [a] perpetual petroleum future. ‘Energy Citizens’ is an astroturf front group created by the American Petroleum Institute to make it sound like there is citizen support for petroleum in our energy future, and we need clean energy – like wind and solar."
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CONTACT: Joe Smyth, Greenpeace Media, 831-566-5647, 