NEWS: Amnesty organises green groups to hit back at Shell claim

An assortment of ‘green’ advertisers joined forces with Amnesty

International last weekend for an initiative designed to strike a blow

against Shell UK’s latest campaign.

In an 11th-hour move, the advertisers co-ordinated a double hit against

Shell by taking full-page ads directly before and after an ad for Shell

in the Observer.

Shell had booked an ad distancing itself from the hanging of Ken Saro-

Wiwa by the Nigerian government and defending its business activities in

Nigeria.

Amnesty’s media company, CIA Medianetwork, negotiated a full-page ad to

follow the Shell site. Indra Sinha, managing director of Chaos,

Amnesty’s creative shop, then approached the Body Shop, Greenpeace and

Friends of the Earth for support. Within two hours, the advertisers had

formed a consortium to buy the space in the Observer which Adam Smith, a

CIA buyer, had negotiated on behalf of Amnesty.

Smith then went back to Amnesty with the idea of creating a ‘Shell

sandwich’, by booking an Amnesty ad to run directly before the Shell ad.

It agreed and the Observer dropped a page of editorial to accommodate

the extra ad.