Big Oil's Approach To Global Warming: Attack Mock The Messenger

By now, you have seen the YouTube video making its way around the internet which mocks the documentary, 'An Inconvenient Truth'. The semi-amateurish-looking video depicts Al Gore as the Penguin from 'Batman' boring a bunch of penguins with all his global warming statistics, etc... The video then shows that everyone is really enjoying packed screenings of "X3" (which totally sucked, by the way) while screenings of Gore's film are attended only by a few sleepy penguins.

Take THAT, climate change!!!

So, anyone want to take a guess as to where the video came from? Wassat? A Republican public relations firm that shills for Exxon among other companies, you guessed? Ding ding, we have a winner...

...[C]omputer routing information contained in an email sent from [video creator] Toutsmith's Yahoo account indicate it didn't come from an amateur working out of his basement.

Instead, the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.

A DCI Group spokesman declines to say whether or not DCI made the anti-Gore penguin video, or to explain why Toutsmith appeared to be sending email from DCI's computers. "DCI Group does not disclose the names of its clients, nor do we discuss the work that we do on our clients' behalf," says Matt Triaca, who heads DCI's media relations shop...

This isn't, of course, the first time that Gore has found himself the subject of attacks from that industry. I wrote about past examples that occurred around the movie's release- here and here.

Guys, don't make me send Pat Robertson to smite you now...

[PS- Meanwhile, Al Gore gets some political praise from Bill Clinton.]