Reposted with permission from Oil Change International.
Lashing out at their critics, ExxonMobil has threatened Comcast with a cease-and-desist demand to silence a cutting edge ad targeting fossil fuel subsidies. The ad was set to air on Fox News in Houston during Tuesday night’s State Of The Union coverage.
The hard-hitting ad, “Exxon Hates Your Children,” which has been called “genius” and “humorously blunt” by Grist.org and the Huffington Post, respectively, had already previously been run by Comcast on MSNBC in the DC, New York and Denver markets, in addition to breaking 150,000 views on YouTube. The ad has been largely crowdfunded by small donations to the LoudSauce platform, which aims to democratize TV access for ordinary Americans.
The ad is part of an ongoing campaign – ExxonHatesYourChildren.com – being run by three progressive organizations targeting the more than $10 billion per year the US government spends in fossil fuel subsidies. In response, they’ve launched a new group statement, Exxon Can’t Silence Us, which is already garnering thousands of public signatures online.
When the richest company on Earth uses their power to silence the voices of average Americans it’s a very dark day for democracy,” said John Sellers, of The Other 98%. “Exxon thinks that they can take away our right to freedom of speech. They have made a huge mistake. They will only make us louder.”
“Every year U.S. taxpayers give Exxon and the rest of Big Fossil at least $10 Billion corporate welfare — it’s time to stop our tax dollars from funding climate chaos” said Steve Kretzmann, of Oil Change International. “People are tired of seeing our political system bullied by the biggest oil companies in the world. It’s time to fight back.”
“We wanted to do something very simple: on a night where the President laid out a plan to address our climate and economic challenges, we wanted Fox News viewers to finally hear about Exxon and the billions in taxpayer dollars that go toward helping them ruin our future,” said Drew Hudson, Executive Director of Environmental Action. “What people can’t understand is why it’s okay for some viewers to hear the full story in primetime, but others have to be shielded by the richest company in the world.”
