Video

The Hilarious Exxon Spoof That Was Blocked From Airing

Amien Essif April 15, 2013

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Days before this anti-Exxon spoof ad was set to run on ABC, NBC and Fox News affiliate stations in Arkansas, the Texas-based oil company threatened legal action and the ad was pulled, reported the Institute for Southern Studies on Thursday. Fortunately, we have the Internet – the video is available on YouTube.

Thanks to the Internet, you can also read the cease and desist memo [PDF] written by ExxonMobil lawyers, which is just as funny as the spoof. The memo challenges the “numerous inaccuracies” of the ad. For instance, “Here at Exxon we hate your children,” is accompanied by pages of proof that the assertion “cannot be substantiated.”

Bogged down in a controversy over the recent oil spill in Arkansas where reporters have been threatened with arrest for entering the contamination zone, Exxon, it seems, just wants to stick to the facts.

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Amien Essif is a regular contributor to Working In These Times and maintains a blog called The Gazine, which focuses on consumerism, gentrification, and technology with a Luddite bent. His work has also appeared on the Guardian and CounterPunch. You can find him using Twitter reluctantly: @AmienChicago