Thank you for shaming Shell

It’s been quite a week. We’ve been amazed by you – our supporters, dismayed by the Financial Times and of course outraged by Shell.

Thanks to your generosity and commitment to the people of the Niger Delta, we were able to realise our ambition of booking a full page ad in the Financial Times on the day of Shell’s AGM.

Then, at 4:58pm the night before, the FT decided to pull the plug on the ad. It seemed like devastating news, but with so much at stake we couldn’t despair. We already had the Evening Standard on board and at the last minute we were able to place the ad in the Metro – a paper we knew shareholders would pick up on the way to the meeting.

And if they didn’t see the papers, they couldn’t have missed the van outside the AGM. Our valiant van driver, Steve, drove the ad van around London’s streets throughout the day – and it certainly made an impact. We saw plenty of people stop in their tracks to read it and have a little think. Here’s the van on Bishopsgate early on Tuesday morning:

Hundreds more of you helped by sharing the ad the FT wouldn’t publish on Facebook, Twitter and on your blogs.

This was your campaign – you made it all possible, and we completely understand if those of you who donated are feeling disappointed about the FT’s refusal to print the ad. It was a controversial decision – and one that led to more publicity and more people talking about Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta than we could ever have planned or imagined. So you certainly gave Shell’s shareholders something to think about.

We have really appreciated all your feedback too. We’ll definitely take it on board for future actions. And we will not give up until Shell cleans up its act and the people of the Niger Delta have their rights respected.
NB. You can download the advert here