Advocacy & Safety - Anyone see the new BP commercial...

I was watching the grandprix today and saw this new BP commercial.
It was with this staged interview with a lady and she said, "asking me to choose between the environment and my car... that's crazy, that's like asking me to give up chocolate, I just can't do it." And the narrator goes on to say, "that's why we've started by reducing the amount of sulfur in our fuels.. blah blah."

So sad...

Stupid yes,

but each time they pay to run it, it covers the cost of the show you watch, as well as raises the price of gas.

So just look at the silver lining in it.

Companies can seem so schizo sometimes...

http://www.ms150.org/ms150/sponsors/index.cfm

However, you have to realise that it's not black and white. Just because someone is for something doesn't mean they have to be against something else.

Great, next thing you're going to say there's something wrong with driving a caravan of SUVs to an anti-war or ecology rally. Sheesh!!!

I don't have the website off hand, but I have seen stickers that say "enviromental stickers don't mena **** stuck to a car."

The way communities are built, cars are something that most people can't live without. My parents live in the suburbs and ride the bus downtown 4 days a week, but they need to get to the commuter bus stop.

Of course just beacuse some people need to drive cars doesn't mean that everyone needs to drive 400hp SUVS. I think most people could get along fine driving nothing but a stock Accord or maybe a ford focus 5 door wagon.

I can deal with seeing an enviromental sticker on a small car, but when I see one on an suv thats not pulling a boat or a horsetrailer, I wnat to puke.

I heard that the waitinglist to get the new Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV is about 7 months. GM and Ford are going bankrupt selling big, wastefull cars (the focus is the one decent car to come out of ford.) Obviously some people think about what they want to drive.\, not we jsut need to offer them an better choicce of fuel effecnt cars and suvs

I can deal with seeing an enviromental sticker on a small car, but when I see one on an suv thats not pulling a boat or a horsetrailer, I wnat to puke.

I personally don't cast judgements on what people drive as the guy who is cruising along I-90 in the big SUV one day may also be using it for volunteer SAR work in the local mountain forests another day. Who am I to make baseless assumptions?

That said, I found this particularly ironic...

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/irony/pict0001.jpg

I guess you can't put decimal points in license plates. :D

[Note - this was in the rental garage at SLC]

It'd be a cool prank to draw a large dark blue dot in front of the 7.

I have seen a rash of car ads ment to appeal to women. They are buying something like 45% of cars today, compared to 22%, 20 years ago. By the way my 1996 Ford Exploder gets the same gas mileage as a 1914 model t. A whopping 12 mpg!

Since women have so much influence on the buying descisions of even the cars they dont buy--the week and lowly enviromentalists should find a way to get the ear of the women.

Moving away from cars for a minute I heard that If the US government gave every member of the board of every corporation free first class air on a non-private carrier and did away with the current $25K write-off for each private flight, we would have more tax dollars. Not to mention less pollution and global warming.

Although the commerical itself makes me pretty mad, I am glad that BP is at least "trying" to become aware of it's environmental effects.

That said, I think it's also sad that a British company starts trying to "clean up" America before any major American companies actively jump in.

I can deal with seeing an enviromental sticker on a small car, but when I see one on an suv thats not pulling a boat or a horsetrailer, I wnat to puke.

What is so special about a boat or a horse? These are really just recreational toys of the wealthy that really reduced the mpg when towed.
I own a 2dr ford explorer suv. I only use it on weekends to drive to trailheads of very remote federally designated Wilderness areas. I go for 2 day backpack trips and take many photos which I use to promote wilderness thru slide show presentations, newletters, etc. I couldn't get to these places without 4WD. I use my bike for everything else- commuting, errands, groceries, dinner. I've learned to drive the SUV lightly to consistenly get 22-24mpg. Not great but there are luxury sedans that get worse.

Al

I have seen a rash of car ads ment to appeal to women. They are buying something like 45% of cars today, compared to 22%, 20 years ago. By the way my 1996 Ford Exploder gets the same gas mileage as a 1914 model t. A whopping 12 mpg!

Since women have so much influence on the buying descisions of even the cars they dont buy--the week and lowly enviromentalists should find a way to get the ear of the women.

Moving away from cars for a minute I heard that If the US government gave every member of the board of every corporation free first class air on a non-private carrier and did away with the current $25K write-off for each private flight, we would have more tax dollars. Not to mention less pollution and global warming.Model T's got about 25 mpg. So, many cars today do a lot worse. Mostly because, even though we have the technology and engineering to make super light, super-efficient cars, we don't, as the auto industry is controlled by many special interest groups.

I heard that the waitinglist to get the new Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV is about 7 months. GM and Ford are going bankrupt selling big, wastefull cars (the focus is the one decent car to come out of ford.) Obviously some people think about what they want to drive.\, not we jsut need to offer them an better choicce of fuel effecnt cars and suvs
This would seem to contradict the free-market'ers who say the market will adjust so we should just leave it alone. Why isn't the market adjusting to increase the supply of hybrids? Are the car companies not sufficiently geared up to manufacture them in the required volume yet? Do they not have a high enough profit margin to make them worthwhile?

I read an article in my paper yesterday that car companies are now using manufacturer's rebates to prop up lagging SUV sales! Seems like they better just be buying time until they get a better strategy in place, or they're really in trouble!

This would seem to contradict the free-market'ers who say the market will adjust so we should just leave it alone. Why isn't the market adjusting to increase the supply of hybrids? Are the car companies not sufficiently geared up to manufacture them in the required volume yet? Do they not have a high enough profit margin to make them worthwhile?

I read an article in my paper yesterday that car companies are now using manufacturer's rebates to prop up lagging SUV sales! Seems like they better just be buying time until they get a better strategy in place, or they're really in trouble!

You won't stop the sale of gas guzzlers until you A) Stop subsidizing the cost of fuel B) Provide a reasonable alternative, ie; mass transit and/or pedestrian/cycle friendly towns. C) the price of gas hits $4-5 a gallon range. Read
Ken Kifer's Page (http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/index.htm) on the REAL cost of a gallon of gasoline.

Aaron :)

I forget who said it, but on NPR (Glenn Mitchell Show), the guest suggested that we add a two dollar federal tax to the price of gasoline. In his words and I remember this because it made so much sense, "For the last thirty years we have been paying at least a dollar a gallon tax to Saudi Arabia, and what have we gotten for it? Bin Laden, and hundreds of schools preaching hatred. The Saudi Arabian goverment is propped up by a tax they charge our citizens. The least we can do is make sure our country gets at least as much tax revenue for each gallon sold."

This would seem to contradict the free-market'ers who say the market will adjust so we should just leave it alone. Why isn't the market adjusting to increase the supply of hybrids? Are the car companies not sufficiently geared up to manufacture them in the required volume yet? Do they not have a high enough profit margin to make them worthwhile?

I read an article in my paper yesterday that car companies are now using manufacturer's rebates to prop up lagging SUV sales! Seems like they better just be buying time until they get a better strategy in place, or they're really in trouble!

The decreased sales of standard SUV's and the increase emphasis on fuel efficency in car ads show that the market is adjusting. The Toyota hybrids were probably first considered to be a risky introduction into the US market. The first verson of the Prius wasn't even sold here. The Highlander hybrid is a brand new car and there was probably some risk percieved in introducing it as well, hence the combined factors made for the backorders.