RALPH WALDO EMERSON SAYS: "THE EARTH LAUGHS IN FLOWERS" TASTYBABY SAYS: "NOT IN SMOKE STACKS"

- Liane Weintraub, Editor-in-Chief

There I was, reading a fairly compelling article in Vanity Fair, when my attention was broken by a pretty, catchy-looking ad on the facing page.  I broke away from Dominick Dunne to look at what the groovy graphic was all about. 

The headline, in a cool, retro font, caught my attention:  “Don’t throw anything away.  There is no away.”  How true that is … and how impossible.

I was stunned to realize it was an ad for Shell Oil depicting flowers billowing out of industrial smoke-stacks. 

Now, I get it that oil companies need to somehow find a place in an ever-greening world.  They are compelled by the share-holders, if by nothing else, to somehow cast themselves as caring, environmentally sensitive folks simply trafficking in petroleum until a cleaner, better solution is found.  But this ad is just a little hard to swallow.

The text at the bottom tells us that Shell has a commitment to things like recycling (“creatively”!) and growing flowers.  That’s great, and believe me I applaud any such efforts, even if they’re being made by a gas company.  But it’s hard to imagine actually creating artwork showing smoke-stacks puffing out beautiful, multi-colored flowers with a straight face. 

I mean, come on …