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.
I hope you found this article important. Before you leave, I want to ask you to consider supporting our work with a donation. In These Times needs readers like you to help sustain our mission. We don’t depend on—or want—corporate advertising or deep-pocketed billionaires to fund our journalism. We’re supported by you, the reader, so we can focus on covering the issues that matter most to the progressive movement without fear or compromise.
Our work isn’t hidden behind a paywall because of people like you who support our journalism. We want to keep it that way. If you value the work we do and the movements we cover, please consider donating to In These Times.
