April 30, 2004

the energy business

2 Comments

evo car icon.jpg
So Bri­tish Petro­leum chan­ged its logo a few years ago from a shield (sym­bol of strength, mas­cu­line values etc) to a flower-starburst-looking thing (sym­bol of life, energy, life-energy, femi­nine values etc etc).
I sup­pose a cynic would call it the first move in their “We’re not evil, honest!” cam­paign.
I have no trou­ble with the oil busi­ness. My father, a geo­lo­gist, was in it for a good por­tion of his wor­king life. It was oil that put food on the table.
Sure, I will con­cur with Big Oil’s detrac­tors for the need for envi­ron­men­tal and ethi­cal vigi­lance, but I would say that was true for all large com­pa­nies.
But I can only give the detrac­tors so much slack. A lot of them are per­fectly willing to hold down fancy media, aca­de­mic and govern­ment jobs, brin­ging their agenda to their cons­ti­tuen­cies. But what they’re not willing to do is actually go and get the oil them­sel­ves.
They’re not willing to live 7 months a year on a rig off the coast of Gua­te­mala, or have to deal with the Nige­rian govern­ment, in a way that (a) fits their moral prism and (b) makes a pro­fit.
i.e. They don’t actually have to get their hands dirty. They leave that job to other peo­ple.
The energy biz is inte­res­ting stuff. Which is why I’m so enjo­ying watching what hap­pens with Evo Limo­si­nes. My gut tells me they’re going to be big.

2 Responses to “the energy business”

  1. Beth says:
    May 1, 2004 at 2:48 am

    I abso­lu­tely HATE their com­mer­cials. The man or family on the street saying how oil is a neces­sary evil but here’s what we wish oil com­pa­nies would do. Ugh.

  2. Bret says:
    May 2, 2004 at 5:27 am

    I really like this post a lot.