As Obama Clinches Nomination, ExxonMobil "Green" Ads Hit the Air

The link is to a promo page on ExxonMobil's corporate Web site, from which you can launch television commercials and brochures produced by ExxonMobil pushing their "green" initiatives. At least in the copy it's interesting to see how they've pushed things. There's mention of "global climate change," noting of the growth of CO2 emissions, notation of "more energy. fewer emissions. moving forward means delivering them both."

Does all this mean that ExxonMobil has tossed in the towel on its efforts to confront global warming? Not really. As it lays claim to these "it's a start" efforts it's still raking in record profits, thanks in part to engineered scarcity of short-term oil supplies and the flooding of demand for oil contracts by Wall Street investors too chicken to extract value from flagging U.S. industries.

But what is most interesting is how this campaign coincides with Barack Obama's closing in on the Democratic nomination for President of the U.S. What ExxonMobil needs most is to neutralize its image in a way that will eliminate some of the potential for John McCain to be painted as the candidate of anti-environmental oil companies. So be glad a teeny tiny bit for ExxonMobil's move towards green resources - perhaps about as much as ExxonMobil invests as a percentage of its overall profits in a green future - subtracting, of course, the monies and influence-buying that it spends on maintaining the status quo as long as possible.