Strike Out Exxon: Should Oil Companies Sponsor Stadiums?
By Jamie Henn - Jun 23rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
A coalition of student, faith, health, and environmental groups rallied outside Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Friday to protest ExxonMobil, the park’s largest sponsor. The action was a sign of how high gas prices are changing the political landscape on energy and the environment, and a reminder of how far corporations have clawed their way into public view.
ExxonMobil may just be the most unpopular corporation in America, and not undeservedly. From funding climate skeptics to pulling in record profits as the planet burns, Exxon tops the list of corporations we love to hate.
And now, they’re not only in nearly every rest stop in America, they’re in our ballparks as well. Nationals Stadium may be the most energy efficient baseball park in the country, but when Exxon is your lead sponsor, your green street-cred is going to suffer.
“We congratulate the Nationals for the new park’s commitment to recycling and better lighting, but you do more harm than good when you simultaneously promote ExxonMobil to our watching children,” said Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, in a press release issued by the coalition of groups protesting Exxon’s sponsorship. “At a time of extreme weather from coast to coast, Exxon’s presence at the Nationals’ green ballpark is truly outrageous.”
Activists with the “Strike Out Exxon” campaign pledged Friday to have protesters outside the park for every home game for the rest of the 2008 season or until the Nationals drop Exxon as a sponsor. During Friday night’s game against the Texas Rangers, more than 20 activists handed out literature about Exxon’s record-breaking profits at a time of rapid global warming. Fans at the stadium will be encouraged to boo loudly when the “ExxonMobil 7th Inning Stretch” appears on the Nationals scoreboard.
“Exxon is again attempting to ‘green-wash’ their destructive legacy of global warming denial and deception,” said John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. “While the Nationals and their fans are rightly proud of this green stadium, the only ‘green’ Exxon sees is what they are raking out of people’s wallets.”
The campaign has already sparked discussion in the green blogosphere over its tactics. Some argue that protesting at baseball games is only a guaranteed way to piss people off. That’s true: Some people won’t want their beers and franks interrupted by activists criticizing corporate greed. But I agree with Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus:
“People are furious at Exxon, and they’re mad at Nationals officials for claiming their stadium is green while taking ad dollars from the oil giant. This is a fun and creative way for people to express their outrage, and make a statement about global warming at the same time.”
High gas prices are pushing the country in two directions: toward support for conservation, renewable energy, and public transportation on the one hand, and toward support for more oil drilling and production on the other. It’s a delicate balance for environmental advocates to walk: High prices help environmentalists make their case, but if the price gets too high there could be a backlash in which people would be willing to sacrifice just about anything to reduce the cost of filling their tank.
No matter what happens, having ExxonMobil sponsor a seventh-inning stretch goes too far. Just when I was getting over the fact our players were jacked up on steroids, now our parks’ budgets are jacked up on oil?
You can learn more about the Strike Out Exxon campaign at: www.strikeoutexxon.org.
As much as this is an outrage, it is a great marketing opportunity for the Nats!
See, I am not much of a ’sports person’, I’ve always hated going to my brother’s long soccer games, watching a bunch of people crowd around a ball and get paid millions of dollars for something that distracts the public from the real problems in the world (check out how many armed forces ads there are during football games!) As I grew older and more independent, I thought that I was done with the world of sports, and few things could convince me to go back.
Well the Nats found a way to lure disgruntled hippies like me to enjoy America’s Pastime! By accepting money from the corporation with the highest collection of human rights abuses, I will finally be able to start my own collection of baseball game tickets.
(Disclaimer: despite my obvious dislike of sports, many of the other people volunteering to inform the public about Exxon’s adventures in the greenhouse experiment are big fans of baseball. They protest because they are pissed off about their kids going to watch a great game and plastering in their malleable little minds the logo of America’s corporate overlord. Join us at http://www.strikeoutexxon.org)
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm