Yesterday we asked you to call Chevron CEO John Watson and “congratulate” him, as it had just been announced that Chevron had been inducted into Corporate Accountability International’s “Corporate Hall of Shame.”
Hundreds of folks made the call, only to discover that the phone number for Watson’s office was quickly diverted to a pre-recorded message asking them to call a different number. I guess too many calls came in even despite the bait and switch, because when people called that new number, they were told Chevron was no longer accepting comments from the public by phone, and they’d have to send an email to the company.
Incredibly, the folks who sent an email to the address supplied received an auto-response from Chevron telling them that that mailbox would no longer be monitored by anyone at the company, and they’d have to use a webform.
I guess Watson couldn’t take the heat, and decided to hide behind a never-ending labyrinth of bureaucracy. But that’s okay, we’re pretty sure he got our message all the same. Yesterday we teamed up with the Raging Grannies — an amazing group of activists – and headed down to Lafayette, CA to deliver a “Corporate Hall of Shame” certificate to Watson at his home.
The Raging Grannies came up with a great little ditty to sing to Watson. Of course no one would come to the gate of Watson’s home, so they had to sing it to him through the call box. You can see a photo montage and hear the Grannies singing in this video put together by the “embedded reporter” who rolled along with the Grannies yesterday:
http://paloalto.patch.com:/swf/external_video_player.swf
Thanks to everyone who made calls, and extra special thanks to the Raging Grannies for being so awesome! We managed to shut down two phone lines and an email address down at Chevron HQ. Maybe that’s a sign that the folks at Chevron are starting to realize how ashamed of themselves they should be for refusing to clean up the company’s oil pollution in Ecuador… but I doubt it.
I’m sure Chevron would still love to hear from you, however. You can use this phone number — 925-842-3232 — and this sample call script to tell John Watson and Chevron how shameful you think their behavior is.