Sierra Club Canada Submits Shell Advertisement Complaint to Press Council

OTTAWA--Sierra Club Canada sent the following letter of complaint to the Ontario Press Council today in regards to the “six-week Canwest special information feature on climate change, in partnership with Shell Canada” which has appeared in Canwest papers over the past four weeks. Sierra Club Canada believes the advertisements are published in type to appear as ordinary news items, thus crossing ethical journalistic and advertorial standards.

Contact:

Michael Bernard
Director of Media Relations
Sierra Club Canada
michaelb@sierraclub.ca
(o) 613.241.4611 x230
(c) 613.302.9933
Toll free: 1.888.810.4204

February 17, 2010

THE ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL
2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706,
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 1J3

To Whom It May Concern:

Sierra Club Canada is lodging a complaint against the Ottawa Citizen, Canwest newspapers and Shell Canada, under the Press Council’s Policy on Advertising, which States:

“The Council believes that ads published in type that makes them look like ordinary news items should be clearly labeled as advertising. It also believes that sponsors of advocacy ads should be identified in a form that will leave readers in no doubt who they are.”

The complaint centers around the “six-week Canwest special information feature on climate change, in partnership with Shell Canada” which has appeared in Canwest papers including: the National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun. The articles in question appeared in print and online on Saturday, January 23, 2010; Saturday, January 30, 2010; Saturday, February 6, 2010; and Saturday, February 13, 2010.

The features are laid out and by-lined in a similar fashion to the rest of the publications and are described as "information features". No attempt has been made to point out to the reader that these "information features" are paid advertisements (See attached copy). The articles/advertisements also appear online and are filed using News URLs (See list below).

It is not plausible that no one at a major newspaper chain and a multi-national corporation noticed there was no disclaimer on these ‘information feature(s)’ indicating them to be paid advertisements.

Sierra Club Canada publicly raised the issue with the Ottawa Citizen/Canwest and the Advertising Standards Association under Provision 2 of the Advertising Standards Code, ‘Disguised Advertising Techniques’, which states: "No advertisement shall be presented in a format or style which conceals its commercial intent.”

Since publicizing our complaint on February 10, 2010, there has been no change to the "Information Feature”. The ad is still described as "a Canwest special information feature...in partnership with Shell Canada."

In Sierra Club’s view this blurs the line between ethical journalistic standards and advertorial content. Is Canwest claiming as much responsibility for the ad as Shell? In this case, the news provider and the advertiser are in partnership further blurring the line.

Sincerely,

John Bennett
Executive Director
Sierra Club Canada
412-1 Nicholas Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
PH: 613.291.6888

The following articles/advertisements are online and are filed with News URLs:

http://www.canada.com/news/shell/Climate+change+reality+check/2437115/st...

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/shell/Capturing+carbon+dioxide/25176...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/shell/innovation+unlocks+sands/2500475...

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/shell/innovation+unlocks+sands/2500475/...

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/shell/Capturing+carbon+dioxide+addit...

http://www.nationalpost.co/story.html?id=2527101

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/index.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/index.html

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/shell/Capturing+carbon+dioxide/2517667...