Archived press release

ASA UPHOLD COMPLAINTS AGAINST SARO-WIWA ADVERT

10 July 1996

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today (Wednesday 10 July)upheld three complaints against a Shell advert which appeared shortly after the Nigerian government executed human and environmental rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa [1] in November 1995. The complaints were made by Friends of the Earth and MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People).

The Shell ad [2] "Clear Thinking in Troubled Times', claimed to give factual information about Shell's involvement in Nigeria and promised to "keep you in touch with the facts". FOE and MOSOP questioned some of these facts and the ASA ruled that three complaints would be upheld [3].

Uta Bellion, Campaigns Director of Friends of the Earth said:

"The ASA ruling shows that Shell did not provide clear thinking in troubled times", instead they misled the public. They should either clean-up their act or get out of Nigeria."

Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK Government to support proposals by Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica for tough action against Nigeria,including severing all air links [4].

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Ken Saro-Wiwa - writer, human rights campaigner and environmentalist - and eight colleagues were executed by hanging by the Nigerian Government on 10 November 1995 after campaigning against the oil and gas industry in their Ogoni homeland. Shell were one of the main targets of the Ogoni campaign. A few days after their execution Shell announced it would proceed with a liquefied natural gas plant and pipeline project in the Niger Delta and Ogoniland despite international and local protests.

[2] Photocopies of the Shell advertisement are available on request.

[3] Friends of the Earth and MOSOP successfully:

objected that a Newsnight quote from Wura Abiola (Ken Saro-Wiwa's daughter) had been taken out of context in a way that was misleading;

ASA Ruling: Complaint Upheld. The advertisers believed they were making the same point as Wura Abiola: that the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa showed that the Nigerian government did not respond to threats.The Authority noted from the Newsnight interview transcript that Wura Abiola's statement was made in response to the question "will this threat of expulsion from the Commonwealth worry the regime?" and that she did not intend her reply to support Shell's argument that diplomacy gave the best chance of saving her father. It therefore considered the claim misleading and asked the advertisers to avoid selecting quotations in a way that was misleading.

challenged the accuracy of the claim that Shell made that "over 60 per cent of oil spills were caused by sabotage, usually linked to claims for compensation";

ASA Ruling: Complaint Upheld. The advertisers provided information,from their Nigerian Company (SPDC), that they believed showed that 17 of the 24 spills since SPDC staff were withdrawn from the Ogoni area in 1993 were caused by sabotage. The Authority noted the information described incidents that could have been sabotage but did not substantiate this. The Authority considered the advertisers had not given enough information to support the claim and asked for it not to be repeated.

questioned the accuracy of the claim "And when contractors have tried to deal with these problems, they have been forcibly denied access".

ASA Ruling: Complaint Upheld. The advertisers gave SPDC records of five incidents where people from the local Ogoni community were thought to have prevented contractors from solving problems due to sabotage. The Authority considered this insufficient to support the implication in the advertisement that access was denied continually. It asked for the claim to be rephrased.

A copy of the full ASA ruling is available on request

[4] Proposals for tightening international measures aimed at the Nigerian government will be made when the Commonwealth Action Group meets in September.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust