Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Mugs of Greenpeace

I will resist the temptation to call the Greenpeace activists who have closed down BP petrol stations today the same thing that I called the Parliament Square squatters, but believe me I am tempted.

They clearly haven't done their research. BP petrol stations have very little to do with BP in that they are franchised out to independent small business people, many of whom can ill afford to lose a day's takings.

So well done Greenpeace. You haven't actually laid a finger on BP. What you have done is affect the profitablity of individuals who can least afford it.

Mugs.

33 comments:

Michael Heaver said...

These types of "green" activists really are obnoxious.

john in cheshire said...

Greenpeace is a thoroughly nasty organisation. And their obsession with harming those they know will not, or cannot, fight back, is beyond contempt. I'd like to see them just once try these antics in any non-Western country. Or do they need the French to remind them, again, of their place in society?

The Grim Reaper said...

Iain said "I will resist the temptation to call the Greenpeace activists who have closed down BP petrol stations today the same thing that I called the Parliament Square squatters, but believe me I am tempted."

What, so they also have hygiene issues?

IanVisits said...

In addition it targets the wrong end of the product anyway.

The motorist simply drove along the road to a different petrol station - so the net impact on petrol consumption would have been ZERO.

Had they really wanted to curb CO2 emissions etc - they should have slashed the tires of the cars.

Then again, I suspect the average "road rage" motorist might have retaliated in a manner that is very different to the shoulder shrug that a company has to restrain themselves to.

Sean said...

Ah, but if they had been successful, they could have nobly attacked the pensions of the majority of UK retirees.

So it was all worth it, then.

Victor, NW Kent said...

Rent-a-mob. Cut their benefits.

DocRichard said...

Trust the market Ian, trust the Invisible Hand. The franchisees will look to changing to a less contaminated, more ethical oil company...er...oh, well, never mind.

Bill Quango MP said...

More publicity or Greenpeace.
And under the thinnest of thin pretensions too.

They must have got a new campaign organiser who wanted to make a big media splash. Mission accomplished.

But if that's all you want to achieve, make a big noise about your 'issues' without changing anyone's opinions either way,or even having a cogent argument, you could just throw a hand grenade into a Starbucks.
Much the same effect.

................................. said...

Affected the profitibility of evil profiteers from the rape of the earth, I suspect they would say...

If they want to do something about poisonous emissions, I suppose they could wash more often.

Chris Paul said...

Indeed Iain. Though they will be deflecting some petrol and other sales to different oil companies .. or supermarkets .. some of whom get their petrol from .. guess who?

There's little point crying over spilt oil and I opposed (gently) the campaign to attack BP sponsorships of arts institutions, already facing enough attacks on their revenue from elsewhere I'd have thought.

The Purpleline said...

I have been fooling around with the Greenpeacniks all morning ion twitter.

They just do not get the fact that they have behaved in a racist manner, the majority of franchised BP stations are Asian owned.
They even stated good they should not deal with BP so they approve of collateral damage. However they could not understand that by tacit approval of collateral damage they blow their whole argument out of the water.

The coalition have failed as well as the Police as they should have reacted as if this was a terrorist attack, it may give terrorists and idea to slow our economy to a crawl by attacking Petrol stations which are very open and not protected.

They should have been tasered and put in the slammer for 28 days as potential terrorists.Secretly I bet the limp dems in the coalition and in charge today, yes you 40 shags cleggover are supportive of the action.

Unknown said...

The oxygen of publicity is what they crave. And you've just given them a few mugfuls.

Patrick said...

i agree.

indeed i will make a point of filling up at a BP station next time.

Anonymous said...

this quote made me laugh:

"This isn't targeted at motorists, this is targeted at the company..."

Not targeted at motorists?! THEY’RE PETROL STATIONS!!!

Unsworth said...

This is everything to do with Greenpeace and, particularly, their attempts to reposition themselves, and nothing to do with BP.

Remember Shell and Greenpeace?

DespairingLiberal said...

How do you know they are all independent? I was curious about this, so I asked at my local (large) BP station. They are directly owned and managed by BP London.

As for the rest of you, accusing Greenpeace of being nasty, etc, I just think of the whales and the debt owed to Greenpeace for leading the fight to save them. Then I think of the tiny minority of silly little far-right Tories represented in blogs like this. Then I think, thank goodness that tiny deluded minority are not in government. Er. Erm. Oh. Oh heck.

DespairingLiberal said...

So BP stations don't sell BP petrol then? This is news indeed!

Unsworth said...

@ Despairing Liberal

Who are BP London? No mention of them at Companies House. No mention of them in BP's listings of subsidiaries. So, who are they?

DespairingLiberal said...

Grow up Unsworth. I of course meant BP UK in London. I didn't ask the garage manager for a letter head. Still, I'm glad you put so much effort into this. Maybe if you put the same amount of effort into writing your own material rather than just trying to run down other people's, you might be more useful.

Dilettante said...

I can't believe the police didn't actually take action over this. I mean, whatever you think of the green argument surely blockades of this kind are illegal?

spatuletail said...

I fully support greenpeace and their actions

javelin said...

When has responsibilty been natural to the left.

Guilt, coersion and demands are their nature.

Man in a Shed said...

Those affected should sue Greenpeace for recovery of their loses.

Greenpeace are just vandals looking to promote themselves.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

First, most petrol has little to do with the brand on the tanker, since it comes from whichever is the most convenient refinery, perhaps with some additive peculiar to the brand.

Effectively, there is no guarantee that your fill of BP is not from the same tank as Esso or Shell, so the Greenpeace protest is symbolic, at best.

The second problem is that interfering with the fuel supply is neither a vote winner, nor is it likely to garner public support, apart from the usual suspects, who don't drive anyway.

For all the putative support Greenpeace is getting, in terms of justification for their actions, they may as well be targeting people with red hair.

Dick Puddlecote said...

BP give nectar points, that'll do me. If they're clogged up with squatters and college thinkers, I'll just pop down to Sainsbury's who also do nectar points ... and also sell BP petrol.

:)

Paddy Briggs said...

Iain

I agree with you that the operators of the sites in question will have lost some revenue as a result of the Greenpeace actions - they are not however technically franchises and the loss of revenue, whilst regrettable, will not be significant nor lasting.

You are, however, quite wrong to say “BP petrol stations have very little to do with BP” and that “You haven't actually laid a finger on BP”. This assumes that Greenpeace was trying to hurt BP financially. They most certainly were not trying to do this – why would they bother when BP already has insurmountable financial problems on an almost unimaginable scale!

No, the Greenpeace action was designed further to damage BP’s reputation by drawing attention to their environmental and safety incompetence – not just in the Gulf of Mexico, but over the years. You, as a political commentator, know that column inches is everything when you are trying to get your message across. Greenpeace's action was designed simply to get column inches (and the electronic equivalent). As a result of the action a few more people will be aware of the issues – that was, I think, Greenpeace’s primary goal. A second objective was probably to give impetus to a campaign to get motorists to boycott BP’s petrol stations. This will hurt BP’s bottom line a bit but hardly significantly - but it will further damage their credibility and reputation.

BP’s petrol stations have a lot to do with BP – they are the public face of the brand. Whoever operates the sites they have to confirm to BP’s brand standards, sell BP’s products and act as the front line interface between BP and their customers. It is quite wrong to imply that BP is disinterested in what goes on at their petrol stations – many of which they own outright anyway.

Whether Greenpeace’s action is wise or justified is a matter of opinion – but to suggest that it is only the little man who will suffer as a result of it is just not correct.

Paddy Briggs said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DespairingLiberal said...

Wrinkled Weasel is talking out of his bottom. All BP and Shell stations, apart from a handful of co-branded ones in Scotland and Wales, sell only Shell and BP fuel. Supermarkets and cheaper offerings like Total, Jet, etc sell any brand they obtain on the markets.

Roger Thornhill said...

Crude oil is organic.

Unsworth said...

Despairing Liberal

Take a day off from being a full-time prat. There's no such thing as BP London, there's no such thing as BP UK either.

There is BP plc with its various subsidiaries. But you seem also to believe that BP owns 100% of these various companies - and it simply does not.

If you're trying to say that all of the BP stations in London are 100% (or even majority) owned by BP then you really don't have a clue about petrol retailing. Come to that you don't seem to have a clue about most things. Company owned petrol retail sites amount to about 25% of the total. Read http://www.ukpia.com/industry_issues/marketing/faqs_petrol_retailing.aspx and learn.

Maybe you need to make proper enquiries, rather than asking the local cashier, before giving us all the benefit of your profound knowledge - i.e. gobbing off.

Doubting Richard said...

This is not about the environment, or the oil leak (most of which has now dispersed by the way, leading top little environmental damage that is so far apparent). It is about business. They know what they are doing, but they equate business with capitalism, regardless of how much more wealthy many of their supporters are than the business owners.

P.S. Have you personalised the blog settings Iain? My word verification today is "mincing".

Penfold said...

Its high time that these Greenpeace louts where taken to court and jailed.
Their acts are agressive, illegal and go beyond a joke.
Time for action and perhaps this time round BP will gather some balls and sue Greenpeace into penury.
Should they disappear, I for one will not feel any loss.

Dick the Prick said...

@Doubting Richard - quite so, old bean. Even ABC were reporting that the cleaners couldn't find any oil to err..clean. I think Greenpeace are just useful idiots in this. They've been played by the mid-terms that Obama's gonna lose. Hey ho. Such is politics in the premier league and these Vauxhall Conference jokers are just not up to scratch.