angus.todd

Gasoline, petroleum and other petroleum byproducts are a monumental part of our lives. Whether people realize it or not, they are used by everyone, in hundreds of way every day. For whatever reason, however, a lot of people hate oil companies and their practices despite the invaluable products and services they provide.  Oil companies are criticized for their extraction and transportation methods that are considered by many to be unsustainable and a liability for the environment. Consequently these companies are fighting a huge uphill battle when it comes to marketing themselves to the public. For the most part, the largest companies in this industry simply extract and refine the product and never interact with the end consumer, so why bother trying to win them over?! The problem arises when there is large enough negative public sentiment toward an oil and gas company, or one of their potential projects. This public sentiment causes governments to be hesitant in issuing licenses and permits to allow the companies to carry out there exploration plans.

Take for example the recent public reaction to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. While the pipeline is estimated to bring $10 million to the Canadian economy every year, the premier of British Columbia opposes the pipeline because there is an overwhelming public consensus that the pipeline should not be constructed. In order to try to sway this public opinion, Enbridge has launched a large campaign consisting mainly of radio and television advertisement and social mediums like YouTube and Facebook.

One of the most important parts of this campaign has been an attempt to inform the public of the benefits that will come to the end consumers (because after-all the consumers aren’t buying crude oil, they’re buying things like gasoline, and other petroleum byproducts).

Take a look at one of these videos, which does a good job of demonstrating the benefits that come from petroleum and specifically pipelines (also interesting to note that the video never mentions Enbridge, or the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x_WuWs5PB4