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Don Marketing

The John Donovan associated with Royal Dutch Shell?

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Who is the John Donovan associated with Royal Dutch Shell?

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John Donovan is a notable figure associated with Royal Dutch Shell in the context of being a long-time critic of the company. He operates the website royaldutchshellplc.com, which serves as a platform for disaffected Shell employees to share information, company news, and gossip—often critical of Shell’s practices and policies. His relationship with Shell is deeply rooted, tracing back to the 1990s when he and his father, Alfred Donovan, became vocal critics following a business dispute with Shell, which was a client of their marketing promotion company. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

In fond memory of Robert Alexander Donovan

By John Donovan

In 1979, my father Alfred Donovan and I, along with my uncle Bob Donovan and a chartered accountant/mathematician friend, Don Redhead, jointly founded a sales promotion company called Don Marketing. We devised a host of promotional games for Royal Dutch Shell and many other blue-chip clients. Bob (right) passed away in March 2023 at the age of 95.  My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

(Live video feed awaiting the start of a Funeral Service for Robert Alexander Donovan, held at 11.30 am on 14 April 2023 before mourners arrived) read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

For decades Shell has tried to suppress online criticism

1995

Shell first took issue with my Shell-focused Internet activity in March 1995. Shell’s rabid false allegations about my late father and me resulted in a libel action and other litigation (IP theft) all subsequently settled in our favour by Shell.

2000

In November 2000, DJ Freeman, solicitors acting for Shell, sent a threatening letter to a server hosting company for www.nuclear-crimes.com AKA Shell’s Nuclear Crimes. DJ Freeman boasted in their letter that the website in question had already been removed from the Internet by a previous hosting company, Easyspace after DJ Freeman sent a threatening letter on behalf of Shell. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Wikipedia: Royaldutchshellplc.com 1 June 2021

Replica of the Wikipedia article: royaldutchshellplc.com

As Wikipedia editors are aware, my father Alfred Donovan passed away in 2013. Since there are a number of references to him in the above Wikipedia article, I provided proof in the form of a Guardian newspaper article about Shell that mentioned his death, hoping the information would be updated. 

Strange tale of Shell’s pipeline battle, the Gardaí and £30,000 of booze

However, the several years out of date information remains and the supply of the information politely supplied triggered a negative response within 20 minutes. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

EXAMPLES FROM YESTERYEAR OF JOHN DONOVAN’S STUNNING SERIES OF MEGA PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL WHICH SET THE UK GASOLINE MARKET ALIGHT

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

McMillions$, McLibel and McShell

Despite McMillion$, McDonald’s is a saintly global business compared with Shell

By John Donovan

Shell has over 44,000 service stations worldwide and operates in over 70 countries. McDonald’s has almost 38,000 outlets worldwide and operates in over 100 countries. Both multinational giants operate with an ethical question mark hovering over their business activities. Both have run well-known hugely popular promotional games such as McDonald’s Monopoly and Shell Make Money.

McMillion$ is the name of a hit true-crime TV documentary series about fraudulent promotional games conducted by McDonald’s for many years. McDonald’s was an innocent party until the last of the rigged promotions. The story is being made into a movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Shell also has a track record of running a flawed multimillion£ game in which all major prizes could be identified and removed by dishonest staff before they reached the public. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Wikipedia: royaldutchshellplc.com 23 March 2020

Replica of the Wikipedia article: royaldutchshellplc.com

23 March 2020 Version

The article text for the Wikipedia article royaldutchshellplc.com is displayed below for the above-indicated date – the content of which may be confirmed by Wikipedia records

Royaldutchshellplc.com
Type of site
Gripe site
Available in Originates in English; translation available
Owner Alfred and John Donovan
Created by John Donovan
Revenue None
URL https://royaldutchshellplc.com/
Commercial No
Registration Not required
Launched October 29, 2004[1]
Current status Active

royaldutchshellplc.com is a Royal Dutch Shell gripe site and blog operated by Alfred and John Donovan, who engaged in several marketing campaigns with Shell during the 1980s and early 1990s. The father and son duo believe Shell violated intellectual property agreements and filed several lawsuits against Shell prior to starting several websites critical of Shell, including royaldutchshellplc.com. The site has been oft quoted in news sources and is known for its activities as an Internet leak and forum for Shell whistleblowers. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Wikipedia: royaldutchshellplc.com 28 September 2019

Replica of the Wikipedia article: royaldutchshellplc.com

28 September 2019 Version

The article text for the Wikipedia article royaldutchshellplc.com is displayed below for the above-indicated date – the content of which may be confirmed by Wikipedia records

Royaldutchshellplc.com
Type of site
Gripe site
Available in Originates in English; translation available
Owner Alfred and John Donovan
Created by John Donovan
Revenue None
URL http://royaldutchshellplc.com/
Commercial No
Registration Not required

royaldutchshellplc.com is a Royal Dutch Shell gripe site and blog operated by Alfred and John Donovan, who engaged in several marketing campaigns with Shell during the 1980s and early 1990s. The father and son duo believe Shell violated intellectual property agreements and filed several lawsuits against Shell prior to starting several websites critical of Shell, including royaldutchshellplc.com. The site has been oft quoted in news sources and is known for its activities as an Internet leak and forum for Shell whistleblowers. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Introduction of John Donovan

Contact email address for the website owner, John Donovan (above): [email protected]

UPDATE ADDED 31 JULY 2021. On or around 22 July 2021, an incompetent cyber Intelligence outfit acting for Shell issued a 5-day ultimatum on behalf of Shell to the company hosting this website. See Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website Update ends.

UPDATE ADDED 30 OCTOBER 2021. The most recent television coverage was in the Channel 4 TV controversial film documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant broadcast on 24 Oct 2021. View transcript at Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant – John Donovan segment.

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The information contained on this website is sourced mainly from the EBook displayed above, authored by John Donovan. It was first published in 2016 and has been updated and expanded with related information.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia articles cover multitudinous subjects including the history and accomplishments of prominent individuals and major businesses, including Royal Dutch Shell.

The information provided is supposedly accurate.

Unfortunately, the integrity of Wikipedia is corrupted by a policy allowing the anonymous editing of articles.

This fundamental flaw allows articles to be potentially sanitized of any facts embarrassing to a featured person or business. 

Decisions are sometimes taken within the Wikipedia community to remove entire articles from the public gaze in the shadiest circumstances.

Participants in such decisions are allowed to hide their identity and their background circumstances.

The flaws in editing credibility are especially important in regards to big business as positive or negative information in a Wikipedia article about a company can potentially have an impact on its reputation and value.  The flaws have been exploited. Negative information has been removed from Wikipedia articles.

For example, Wikipedia articles about Shell Dutch Shell have been covertly edited by Shell employees from Shell offices. This was only discovered as a result of electronic scanning technology.

Entire articles about Royal Dutch Shell controversies, including employee safety issues and environmental concerns, have been deleted by anonymous editors.

This was despite the fact that the information met all Wikipedia requirements, with independent evidence from reputable third-party sources cited to verify all stated facts.

John Donovan was the initiating author of Wikipedia articles that were subsequently cleansed by Wikipedia editors of information deemed embarrassing to Shell. Most Wikipedia editors use aliases so that their identity and background is unknown. 

He was also the author of the deleted Wikipedia articles relating to Shell.

He declared to Wikipedia at the outset of becoming a voluntary editor his background and expertise in relation to Shell.

CONCERN BY SHELL OVER WIKIPEDIA EDITING BY JOHN DONOVAN

As a result of an application to Shell under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, Donovan discovered from Shell internal communications a deep concern by Shell over his Wikipedia editor contributions about Shell.

The tone of one particular internal Shell email was hostile and aggressive to a degree that Reuters published an article about it. Shell put a large team of people on a war footing and John Donovan, his website, and Shell’s own employees became the target of a global spying operation by Shell Corporate Affairs Security.

John Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

At one stage Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London defaming John Donovan and his father.

In response, the Donovan’s sued Shell for libel. One of two libel actions they brought against Shell. Both were settled out of court, as were all of the other court actions. Shell also lost the case decided by the WIPO.

For more than a decade, John Donovan has operated non-profit websites focussed on Shell including royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com, both of which Shell unsuccessfully attempted to seize.

Several hundred mainstream media articles by the FT, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and over 50 books contain references to either John Donovan, his father, and/or the Shell focussed websites they co-founded.

Shell has a dark history it would prefer to forget and would like to keep hidden. See my ebooks published on Amazon:

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image on each book cover is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

In January 2016, Shell received the dubious distinction of being named as the most hated brand in the world.

VW challenges Shell as world’s ‘most hated’ brand after emissions scandal

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The world’s most hated company: can NGOs help turn Shell’s reputation around?

Wikipedia is not the only Internet brand name corrupted by the use of unethical people using online aliases. The following Guardian newspaper articles about the fake reviews plaguing Amazon are worth reading.

The same basic fake review problem undermines confidence in the authenticity of customer reviews for all Internet business and all products sold online. The content of all Wikipedia articles having a commercial dimension and all online product reviews are suspect because editors/reviewers can hide their identity. Hence the online businesses springing up offering a service to sanitise/enhance Wikipedia articles and/or mass manufacture fake reviews, sometimes for counterfeit sub-standard products.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Introduction

Contact email address for the website owner, John Donovan (above): [email protected]

UPDATE ADDED 31 JULY 2021. On or around 22 July 2021, an incompetent cyber Intelligence outfit acting for Shell issued a 5-day ultimatum on behalf of Shell to the company hosting this website. See Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website Update ends.

UPDATE ADDED 30 OCTOBER 2021. The most recent television coverage was in the Channel 4 TV controversial film documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant broadcast on 24 Oct 2021. View transcript at Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant – John Donovan segment.

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The information contained on this website is sourced mainly from the EBook displayed above, authored by John Donovan. It was first published in 2016 and has been updated and expanded with related information.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia articles cover multitudinous subjects including the history and accomplishments of prominent individuals and major businesses, including Royal Dutch Shell.

The information provided is supposedly accurate.

Unfortunately, the integrity of Wikipedia is corrupted by a policy allowing the anonymous editing of articles.

This fundamental flaw allows articles to be potentially sanitized of any facts embarrassing to a featured person or business. 

Decisions are sometimes taken within the Wikipedia community to remove entire articles from the public gaze in the shadiest circumstances.

Participants in such decisions are allowed to hide their identity and their background circumstances.

The flaws in editing credibility are especially important in regards to big business as positive or negative information in a Wikipedia article about a company can potentially have an impact on its reputation and value.  The flaws have been exploited. Negative information has been removed from Wikipedia articles.

For example, Wikipedia articles about Shell Dutch Shell have been covertly edited by Shell employees from Shell offices. This was only discovered as a result of electronic scanning technology.

Entire articles about Royal Dutch Shell controversies, including employee safety issues and environmental concerns, have been deleted by anonymous editors.

This was despite the fact that the information met all Wikipedia requirements, with independent evidence from reputable third-party sources cited to verify all stated facts.

John Donovan was the initiating author of Wikipedia articles that were subsequently cleansed by Wikipedia editors of information deemed embarrassing to Shell. Most Wikipedia editors use aliases so that their identity and background is unknown. 

He was also the author of the deleted Wikipedia articles relating to Shell.

He declared to Wikipedia at the outset of becoming a voluntary editor his background and expertise in relation to Shell.

CONCERN BY SHELL OVER WIKIPEDIA EDITING BY JOHN DONOVAN

As a result of an application to Shell under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, Donovan discovered from Shell internal communications a deep concern by Shell over his Wikipedia editor contributions about Shell.

The tone of one particular internal Shell email was hostile and aggressive to a degree that Reuters published an article about it. Shell put a large team of people on a war footing and John Donovan, his website, and Shell’s own employees became the target of a global spying operation by Shell Corporate Affairs Security.

John Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

At one stage Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London defaming John Donovan and his father.

In response, the Donovan’s sued Shell for libel. One of two libel actions they brought against Shell. Both were settled out of court, as were all of the other court actions. Shell also lost the case decided by the WIPO.

For more than a decade, John Donovan has operated non-profit websites focussed on Shell including royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com, both of which Shell unsuccessfully attempted to seize.

Several hundred mainstream media articles by the FT, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and over 50 books contain references to either John Donovan, his father, and/or the Shell focussed websites they co-founded.

Shell has a dark history it would prefer to forget and would like to keep hidden. See my ebooks published on Amazon:

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image on each book cover is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

In January 2016, Shell received the dubious distinction of being named as the most hated brand in the world.

VW challenges Shell as world’s ‘most hated’ brand after emissions scandal

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The world’s most hated company: can NGOs help turn Shell’s reputation around?

Wikipedia is not the only Internet brand name corrupted by the use of unethical people using online aliases. The following Guardian newspaper articles about the fake reviews plaguing Amazon are worth reading.

The same basic fake review problem undermines confidence in the authenticity of customer reviews for all Internet business and all products sold online. The content of all Wikipedia articles having a commercial dimension and all online product reviews are suspect because editors/reviewers can hide their identity. Hence the online businesses springing up offering a service to sanitise/enhance Wikipedia articles and/or mass manufacture fake reviews, sometimes for counterfeit sub-standard products.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Introduction of Don Marketing

John Donovan, a co-founder of promotional games company Don Marketing: Photo taken in 2015.

By John Donovan

In 1979, the company I co-founded, *Don Marketing, created and supplied promotional games that were used to promote petrol sales on the forecourts of all major petrol brands in the UK, including Shell.

In June 1981, we moved into a  direct contractual relationship with Shell as a result of a presentation I made at Shell-Mex House in The Strand, the then London HQ of Shell UK Limited.

I put forward a proposal for Shell to launch a legal version of a promotional game called Make Money that Shell had abandoned in the 1960‘s out of concern that it was in breach of UK lottery laws. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

CHAPTER 1: John Donovan, Shell’s nightmare

The name of my Amazon Kindle book – “John Donovan, Shell’s nightmare” is not an ego-driven title dreamt up by me, but the headline of an article by an award-winning newspaper journalist, Christoph Giesen published across the EU in ten languages.

A broadsheet German daily newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung published a major article about me on 20 March 2012 under the headline “Konzernfeind No. 1.”

The article by Christoph Giesen told the story of my epic feud with the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, a former client of the multinational company I co-founded, Don Marketing. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

CHAPTER 2: An unscrupulous Shell executive

The actions of an ambitious, unethical young Shell executive, intent on ruthlessly exploiting his position at Shell for personal gain, poisoned the previously excellent relationship we had enjoyed with the oil giant. Unfortunately, Shell senior management gave their full backing to the relevant unscrupulous executive: a decision they must regret as it has since cost the Group billions of dollars.

In 1992, in our capacity as directors of Don Marketing, a colleague and I presented in strictest confidence, a series of sales promotion ideas to a new Shell UK National Promotions Manager. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

CHAPTER 3: Donovan vs Shell litigation

Shell stole confidential intellectual property from us on several occasions. We sued and Shell settled. The settlements were inevitably surrounded by secrecy and deception designed to prevent embarrassing information from reaching third parties, particularly Shell shareholders.

LITIGATION BETWEEN 1994 AND 1996

Shell tried to keep the court settlements in the pre-Smart litigation secret  – see pdf of magazine feature – “High Court papers unveil ‘secret’ Shell writ losses.” 

read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

CHAPTER 4: Shell hypocrisy

In October 1996, I received an unsolicited letter of apology from Shell Chairman Dr. Chris Fay for the way we were treated by Shell. His letter arrived after Shell had already settled out of court with us for four High Court actions and one County Court case. As can be seen, the tone of the letter not meant for public consumption was totally at odds with press releases issued by Shell before and after his letter. Examples are displayed. It is therefore difficult to avoid the conclusion that the apology letter was disingenuous. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

OPL 245 “REALLY UNHELPFUL EMAILS” AS DESCRIBED BY SHELL CEO BEN VAN BEURDEN IN A CLASSIC UNDERSTATEMENT

Emails exchanged between senior Shell staff including John Copleston and Guy Colegate show they knew a massive payment would go to convicted money launderer and former oil minister Dan Etete.

UPDATED SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2018

By John Donovan

During a wiretapped telephone conversation held on 17 February 2016 between Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden and Simon Henry, his then CFO, BvB made reference to what he described as “really unhelpful emails” relating to the Shell/Eni Nigerian corruption scandal.

The call took place hours after Shell’s HQ building in The Hague was raided by authorities investigating the OPL 245 Nigerian oil deal. Two middle men have already been found guilty of involvement in the $1.3 billion corruption scandal. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.