It's a Start

According to BP's website, the energy company amassed a profit of 25.6 billion dollars as of December 2008. With Americans and the rest of the world on edge about climate change, energy companies such as BP are often targeted. Due to the fact that automobile exhaust constitutes a large portion of the world's carbon emissions, energy companies who own a large number of gasoline stations--such as BP--have developed public relations campaigns to improve their image. Energy corporations want to appear "environmentally friendly" so that consumers will purchase their gasoline with a clear conscious.

This television advertisement is clearly an example of BP's efforts to improve the company's image. The advertisement also serves as an obvious example of false consciousness. We all know that BP produces petroleum and transports and distributes the product across the United States and the rest of the world. We also know that it is petroleum that scientists say is an enemy of our environment when it is burned and carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere. Sure, BP is currently spending millions of dollars in research to find alternative fuels, but the company's main goal is to maintain its image as an honest and conscious company so that the consumer will continue to purchase BP gasoline to fuel his or her automobile. We are probably more likely to purchase gasoline from a company we think cares about the environment, even though we know their product is ruining it.

BP is clearly playing on our sense of responsibility for the future of the environment by telling us that when we buy BP fuel, we are helping the environment. According to the textbook, Marx believed that false consciousness "was spread by dominant powers among the masses, who are coerced by those in power to mindlessly buy into the belief systems that allow industrial capitalism to thrive" (69). Long live BP.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZiEMKQMjzg&feature=PlayList&p=73F881ACC081C71C&index=8

BP Facts: http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=3&contentId=2006926

Quote: Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture, Marita Sturcken and Lisa Cartwright. Page 69.