Dow fights for its image, but not the victims in Bhopal
Psalm 110
Dow fights for its image, but not the victims in Bhopal
Tue 10 December 2002
NETHERLANDS/Amsterdam
"Did you know... that Dow Chemical is responsible for the birth of the
modern environmental movement?" So begins an internet spoof of Dow
Chemical Company's smarmy public relations website which has caused a
bit of a web sensation over the last few weeks.
It briefly appeared at http://www.dow-chemical.com for about 72 hours
before Dow shut it down. The site mimicked Dow's real site closely in
design and content, but contained some uncharacteristic honesty about
such things as sustainable development and the Bhopal disaster, which
departed from Dow's normal spin.
Regarding the Bhopal disaster, the parody site said: "We understand
the anger and hurt," said Dow Spokesperson Bob Questra in the fake
press release. "But Dow does not and cannot acknowledge
responsibility. If we did, not only would we be required to expend
many billions of dollars on cleanup and compensation - much worse, the
public could then point to Dow as a precedent in other big cases.
'They took responsibility; why can't you?' Amoco, BP, Shell, and Exxon
all have ongoing problems that would just get much worse. We are
unable to set this precedent for ourselves and the industry, much as
we would like to see the issue resolved in a humane and satisfying
way."
"But what about Bhopal? It was an accident that occurred far away, one
whose victims have few resources to ensure Dow is held responsible for
Union Carbide's mistakes. Do we have a moral responsibility to make
sure the site of the disaster is cleaned up and its victims
compensated fairly? Of course we do. Would we be likely to do so if we
faced consumer pressure, a major stockholder resolution, or a
significant brand attack on Dow's good name? Of course we would. Once
profitability is on the line, our moral responsibility becomes clear."
The parody site went on to un-spin Dow:
"Over time, we have moved away from a relatively narrow, localised
hazard management to a broader use of public relations - essentially
to reposition Dow in the public's mind not as a chemical company, but
as a company with a mission to improve life on our planet. That's a
mission no environmental organisation can attack us for - it's their
own."
"Responsible Care is a voluntary initiative within the global chemical
industry to safely ensure the positive images of our products are
safeguarded from inception in our public relations department, through
distribution, to ultimate disposal, and to involve the public in our
image-making processes. Born after the Bhopal disaster in 1984,
Responsible Care has quickly spread to 45 countries...Setting
corporate targets and judging ourselves against them is an important
part of our strategy to ensure that we remain free of the fetters of
over-regulation by government."
The response from the real Dow...
According to The Yes Men, an organisation of anti-corporate pranksters
who have claimed responsibility for the spoof, the site was announced
by a press release distributed to about 400 individuals, primarily
journalists and members or fans of the artists collective which
created the site.
From there it did that internet wildfire thing, and the site saw more
than a quarter of a million visits in just 72 hours - including more
than 8000 from the Dow.com domain. Email responses to the site were
divided between a small minority who recognised the site to be a spoof
(and almost unanimously praised it) and those who really thought Dow
was responsible for the soothing but illogical and amoral public
relations hype (and universally condemned it).
According to The Yes Men, Dow was "hopping mad" about the spoof and
within 24 hours issued a demand to the site's Internet Service
Provider, Verio, to remove the content immediately as it was in
violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). A letter
from Dow's lawyers stated that:
"The violation of Dow' s invaluable copyrights is causing and will
continue to cause Dow to suffer irreparable damage as long as the
website remains operational."
Verio not only shut down Dow-Chemical.com, they shut down the entire
"thing.net" - a hosting service for dozens of artists and activists
who had no relationship to the Dow spoof - but which included a few
perennial spoof practitioners. The Verio shutdown only lasted a few
hours, until Dow lawyers figured out that they could legally seize the
domain name to shut down the site. How?
Well, the pranksters had registered dow-chemical.com with a fictitious
email address, but under the real name and address of Dow CEO Michael
Parker's son James Parker. Dow lawyers simply had the real James
Parker send a copy of his driver's license to the registrar as proof
he was the owner of the domain name, then demanded transfer of the
site to the real Dow corporation. The spoof content vanished.
But the site survives...
From Dow's perspective, the trouble with internet activism is that
everybody can play, and plugging a hole in the dam with one finger
usually leads to another leak springing up elsewhere.
Within hours of the site shutdown, the content returned at a new
address, http://dow-chemical.va.com.au along with a new link:
"Download this entire site." Yes Men spokesperson Andy Bichlbaum told
the New York Times that "if Dow gets this one too, it will continue to
exist," as activists have been encouraged to mirror the site content
at additional web addresses. The site currently appears at six
different addresses, including dowethics.com and
bhopal.doesntexist.com.
Dow more concerned about its image than victims in Bhopal
Dow has consistently refused to take responsibility for Bhopal, clean
up of the still toxic site, or acknowledge that it inherited Union
Carbide's moral and legal responsibilities for the disaster when it
bought Union Carbide. A wide coalition of victims of the disaster and
environmental groups have been pressuring Dow to clean up the site,
and recently marked the 18th anniversary of the tragedy with renewed
pressure on the company. All this seems to have hit a nerve.
In an open letter from Dow CEO Michael Parker to the staff of the
company, Greenpeace has been singled out as a particular threat to
corporate morale.
"To provide some balance to the claims you'll likely hear from
Greenpeace over the coming weeks, I wanted to reiterate Dow's
perspective on the [Bhopal] issue." Parker then notes that Dow has
"for some time, been exploring various philanthropic initiatives"
which might address the "humanitarian needs" of the Bhopal victims. He
reiterates that an Indian court has called the average 300-500 USD per
victim settlement provided by Union Carbide "just, equitable and
reasonable," despite the fact that no provision was made for cleanup
of the site and uncompensated injuries and fatalities continue to
mount.
Parker then states the bottom line in stark, challenging terms:
"What we cannot and will not do - no matter where Greenpeace takes
their protests and how much they seek to undermine Dow's reputation
with the general public - is accept responsibility for the Bhopal
accident."
When Dow bought the assets of Union Carbide in December of 2001, they
also bought the liabilities. If Dow wants to live up to the lofty
terms of the self-image of Corporate Responsibility they proclaim at
their web site, Dow is going to have to accept that ducking
responsibility for Bhopal is simply not good enough.
At Dow's real web site, the company claims that "We are part of an
ever-evolving global society - one that values organisations such as
Dow not only for our products and services, but also for the
distinctive contributions we make to our world and its people."
A truly distinctive contribution to our world and its people would be
for Dow to say it's simply not right that an Indian court absolved
Union Carbide of further liability for Bhopal. What global society
would truly value would be a Dow declaration to live up to a higher
standard of moral responsibility than they are technically required to
make, and to use the greatest industrial tragedy of the last century
to set the highest benchmark of corporate responsibility that the
world has yet seen.
All that would take is a decision to clean up Bhopal, to make real
compensation for the dead, and to make real contributions to improving
the lot of the living. It's not a lot to ask of the world's largest
chemical company. Here is a chance for them to improve life, daily.
You can help make Dow responsible for Bhopal, write to Dow and tell
them to clean up their act.
What do you think?
In all, several hundred people wrote to the site authors including
journalists seeking interviews with "Michael Parker" about his press
release. Most were appalled at the statements in the press release,
but not so surprised that they suspected the release to be a hoax.
What do you think about Dow's refusal to clean up the site of the
Bhopal disaster and properly compensate victims. Join the Greenpeace
open house.
Here's a sample of the email responses posted on the parody site:
"I'm actually a shareholder of Dow Chemical and don't agree with your
position that your responsibility is strictly to your shareholders. I
feel that corporations have a civic and moral responsibility as well.
Let's be honest. If it hadn't happened in a third-world country, such
as India, this issue wouldn't have been so "inexpensively" dealt with
and so easily swept under the rug. Dow Chemical is merely justifying
its decision on no other grounds than the obvious fact that ducking
the issue works in your
favor."
"I am shocked, appalled, horrified, sickened and disgusted with you. I
guess "corporate responsibility" is the biggest oxymoron of them all.
Rest assured, you will never receive a dime from me as a customer. I
will make sure I boycott any company that has any connection to yours.
"Some time ago I had a debate with a friend about whether or not
"evil" exists. I took the side that it doesn't. People are just
misguided, I said. Well, I take it back. You are EVIL INCARNATE!!!!!!"