by Han Shan, ShellGuilty

I haven’t been watching a lot of TV lately but since I’m here in New York, I’m going to start watching more. I’m hoping I’ll catch the new PSA that ShellGuilty created and began running this week in the New York media market.

Yesterday marked two weeks until the opening of the Wiwa v. Shell human rights trial in federal court only a couple miles south of where I sit as I write this. Shell spends enormous funds on public relations campaigns to convince the world that it’s a leader in sustainability while it continues to flare gas in Nigeria, among other abuses that belie its green rhetoric.

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vimeo Direkt

This version focuses on how gas flaring fuels climate change and there’s another version that focuses on the horrific toxic emissions from gas flaring and its effect on communities living around the flares. Click here to check out the ShellGuilty press release announcing the launch of the TV ads.

As the spotlight of the upcoming trial brightens on Shell and the true impact of its operations in Nigeria and around the world, I can imagine the company’s executives and PR people grimacing to know this ad is running in New York:

And on a related note, the nominations for the 2009 ‘Climate Greenwash Awards‘ were announced today. Shell is one of the six companies “making the most outrageous claims to be green” while continuing practices that imperil the climate, like gas flaring.