Jun 6, 2012-2012
United States of America
Destroying Shell’s Let’s Go! Arctic Campaign
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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
YesMen/ Greenpeace /Occupy Wall Street
TARGET
Royal Dutch Shell
WIDELY HELD BELIEF
Shell should be held accountable for environmental degradation.
CASE NARRATIVE
Issue and Opponent: Climate activists wanted to target the environmental degradation caused by Shell in its Arctic drilling initiative and to point out the ways that their ad campaigns engage in greenwashing.
Dilemma Action: The activists first launched a fake Shell-affiliated website named Arcticready.com. The website contained an online game, Angry Bergs. Posed as Shell representatives, the activists invited people to play this online game in which, to win, the participants had to destroy the icebergs before the “bergs” destroyed the oil rigs. Additionally, the website invited people to create and upload their ads for Arctic drilling. Eventually, more than 7,000 hoax ads circulated online. This dilemma action drew the world’s attention to Shell’s Arctic oil drilling plan, which the company wanted to remain a secret for fear of negative press and public criticism.
Outcomes: There was much media attention to the hoax ads–covering as well the damage of the Arctic drilling campaign. Several weeks after the hoax site was revealed, it sprang back to life–for no apparent reason–and more people posted hoax ads. Finally, a few months later, Shell’s real-life Arctic drilling project halted. Partially due to incompetence, but also due to public outrage. Yes, Men and Greenpeace teamed up for a campaign dedicated to climate action.
PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL
NONVIOLENT TACTICS USED
DA TACTICS USED
Newspapers and journals
CASE NARRATIVE WRITER
SUCCESS METRICS
11 / 12
(CONC) Concessions were made
(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements
(MC) Media Coverage
(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists
(OR) Opponent response
(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public
(PUN) Punishment favored the activists
(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent
(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists
(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public
Laugtivism
PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN
3 / 3
Activist group continued working together after the action
Encouraged more participants to join the movement
Internally replicated by the same movement
RESOURCES
Project documentation
Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook
Case study documentation
Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset
SOURCES
https://www.ft.com/content/e15688dc-ba56-11e1-84dc-00144feabdc0. Accessed April 15, 2022.
The Yes Men. 2012. “Shell Let’s Go/ How the public destroyed Shell’s 2012 ad campaign,” Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://theyesmen.org/project/arcticready/behindthecurtain).
The Yes Men. 2012. “Destroying Shell’s Let’s Go! Arctic Campaign,” Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://theyesmen.org/project/arcticready).
The Guardian. 2012. “Greenpeace parodies Shell with ‘Arctic Ready’ adverts – in pictures,” Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2012/jul/19/greenpeace-shell-arctic-ready-in-pictures).
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