Joe Lycett Vs The Oil Giant coming to Channel 4
Oct 7th, 2021
by John Donovan.
EXTRACTS FROM BRITISH COMEDY GUIDE: Thursday 7th October 2021, 6:24pm
- Channel 4 will air one hour documentary special Joe Lycett Vs The Oil Giant later in October
- The special will see the comedian focusing on the corporate practice of ‘greenwashing’ at energy company Shell
- He says: “The things I’ve learned making this documentary have been shocking”
Joe Lycett is to present a one-hour Channel 4 documentary looking at the corporate practice of ‘greenwashing’.
Joe Lycett Vs The Oil Giant (a working title) will be produced by the same production company that makes his consumer justice comedy show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back.
The channel says: “Comedian and consumer champion Joe Lycett is set to interrogate the troubling problem of greenwashing, a practice where companies exaggerate their green credentials in their marketing output. The new one-off observational film for Channel 4 will air ahead of COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, which kicks off later this month in Glasgow.”
The documentary will see Lycett specifically focus his efforts on energy giant Shell, their marketing, and “their continued exploration for new oil reserves.”
Executive producer Morgan Roberts adds: “It is a joy to be working with Joe on his most ambitious, most daunting project yet. The documentary sees a lovely, fearless, mild-mannered man from Birmingham take on one of the most powerful companies on earth. It seems like a fair fight to us.”
Joe Lycett Vs The Oil Giant will air on Channel 4 later in October as part of a raft of Climate Change programming.
FULL ARTICLE
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LONDON EVENING STANDARD: Comedian Joe Lycett stages stunt outside Shell HQ in London
The TV star danced and showed a parody advert outside the oil giant’s offices to raise awareness about “greenwashing”.
Joe Lycett staged a stunt outside Shell’s HQ in London to campaign against the company’s “greenwashing”.
The comedian, 33, arrived outside the offices in a yellow bus painted with a mural of a mock Shell advert featuring the caption “We’re turning our carbon emissions green for earth day”.
He and several dancers then performed a routine that culminated in Lycett being sprayed with grey paint to represent oil.
A parody television advert starring Lycett was then shown outside the firm’s HQ.
Metro: Joe Lycett doused in ‘oil’ as he stages climate stunt outside Shell’s HQ. Mel Evans Friday 8 Oct 2021
Independent: (WITH VIDEO CLIP): ‘Do you sell petrol?’: Comedian Joe Lycett stages stunt outside Shell HQ in London
Joe Lycett staged a stunt outside Shell HQ in London to campaign against the company’s “greenwashing”.
The comedian arrived outside the offices in a yellow bus painted with a mural of a mock Shell advert with the caption: “We’re turning our carbon emissions green for Earth day”.
Wearing a tuxedo and a pair of sunglasses, Lycett then walked towards the building asking to buy some fuel and his routine culminated in being sprayed with grey paint to represent oil.
The stunt was filmed as part of a documentary called Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant.
FULL ARTICLE
LONDON EVENING STANDARD: Comedian Joe Lycett stages stunt outside Shell HQ in London
The TV star danced and showed a parody advert outside the oil giant’s offices to raise awareness about “greenwashing”.
Joe Lycett staged a stunt outside Shell’s HQ in London to campaign against the company’s “greenwashing”.
The comedian, 33, arrived outside the offices in a yellow bus painted with a mural of a mock Shell advert featuring the caption “We’re turning our carbon emissions green for earth day”.
He and several dancers then performed a routine that culminated in Lycett being sprayed with grey paint to represent oil.
A parody television advert starring Lycett was then shown outside the firm’s HQ.
The stunt was filmed as part of a Rumpus Media documentary called Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant, which looks at the energy company, its marketing and its exploration for new oil reserves.
The documentary will be aired by Channel 4 ahead of the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow later this month.
Lycett told the PA news agency: “I’ve been making a documentary about the concept of greenwashing and Shell is one of the companies that seem to do a lot of greenwashing.
“I’d like to chip away at climate change and get them to change their policy. But realistically, they seem to bury their heads in the sand around this thing.”
He added that while Shell was doing “brilliant things” by investing in renewables, the “fraction” of renewables to fossil fuels the company was handling was unacceptable and his aim was for Shell to “stop taking oil out of the ground”.
The presentation follows a number of stunts the comedian has undertaken recently, largely for his consumer rights show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back, including walking off a show in July to raise awareness of single-use plastics.
Lycett said his decision to get more involved in campaigning against climate change came after he met a group of Extinction Rebellion protesters who were cleared of causing criminal damage to Shell’s London headquarters in April.
“Their story is amazing,” he told PA. “I felt like that sort of approach is being done by Extinction Rebellion, and actually, something more light, fluffy and silly could be done by me. That’s what I do, I’m a comedian.”
Lycett added that while he was unable to attend Cop26, Darren Cullen, an artist who created the bus, would be at the event with the vehicle.
Mr Cullen, 38, told PA: “I’ve done a few projects, such as taking over billboard spaces about Shell’s greenwashing PR, and I previously had a similar installation to this in Glastonbury 2017.
“I always planned to do another for Cop26, so this time, I decided to turn this project into a single-decker bus.”
He added that he was approached by Lycett to see if he was interested in working on the stunt with him for his documentary after the TV star saw his work online.
“Today was brilliant, it was great to bring it down here and have it in front of Shell’s headquarters,” Mr Cullen added.
A Shell spokesperson said: “As Joe points out, we are already investing billions of dollars in lower-carbon energy. We need to grow these new businesses rapidly if we are to alter the mix of energy we sell.
“That means letting our customers know – whether through advertising or social media – what lower-carbon solutions we offer now or are developing, so they can switch when the time is right for them.
“But the world still needs oil and gas for years to come – and investment in them will ensure we can supply the energy people can rely on, while lower-carbon alternatives are scaled up.”
BEYOND THE JOKE: Channel 4 Announces Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant Ahead of COP26
Comedian and consumer champion Joe Lycett is set to interrogate the troubling problem of greenwashing, a practice where companies exaggerate their green credentials in their marketing output. The new one-off observational film for Channel 4 will air ahead of COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, which kicks off later this month in Glasgow.
In Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant, Joe will be focussing his efforts on energy giant Shell, their marketing, and their continued exploration for new oil reserves.
In May 2021, the International Energy Agency released a report with a plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The report called for a halt to the exploration and development of new oil fields. That same month, the District Court in The Hague ruled against Royal Dutch Shell, parent company of Shell, judging that the company currently “disregards its individual responsibility” to reduce its overall emissions, and ordering the Shell group to start reducing them by 45% by 2030. Royal Dutch Shell confirmed in July 2021 that they will appeal the ruling.
On a quest to hold Shell to account and find out more about their business activities, Joe will meet experts in the field and approach campaigners on both sides of the debate, before making a sensational “advert” about their activities and attempting to air it on primetime TV.
Alf Lawrie, Head of Factual Entertainment at Channel 4 said, “Few now deny climate change, but there are powerful vested interests still trying to delay tackling it. Who better to shine his torch of truth into the dark caverns of misinformation, than Britain’s most fearless – and most fun – campaigner, Joe Lycett.”
Joe Lycett added, “The things I’ve learned making this documentary have been shocking. Expect sarcastic Twitter exchanges, Hollywood stars, me being confronted by some big burly security guards, and a spoof advert depicting the CEO of one of the biggest polluters on earth doing something truly disgusting.”
Morgan Roberts, Executive Producer for Rumpus Media said, “It is a joy to be working with Joe on his most ambitious, most daunting project yet. The documentary sees a lovely, fearless, mild-mannered man from Birmingham take on one of the most powerful companies on earth. It seems like a fair fight to us.”
Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant will air on Channel 4 later this month as part of a raft of Climate Change programming.
Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant was commissioned by Channel 4 Factual Entertainment Commissioning Editor, Tim Hancock, and Head of Factual Entertainment, Alf Lawrie. It is a Rumpus Media production, directed by Paul Taylor with Joe Lycett and the Executive Producer is Morgan Roberts.
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Posted in: Alternative Energy, Alternative Fuels, Ben van Beurden, Big Oil, Business ethics, Business Principles, Carbon Capture, Climate Change, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse gas, Greenwashing, Human Rights, Joe Lycett, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, RoyalDutchShellPlc.com, Shell, Shell Energy, Shell Greenwash, Sin Stocks.
Tagged: Environment · Gas · Greenwashing · Joe Lycett · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
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