4 February 2008: Chevron & the Environment

As I was on the elliptical this morning, a Chevron ad on CNN caught my eye. It caught my eye because it related to the physical world. The ad's music is that of a quiet forest as it pans through pictures of Sir Edmund Hillary, the man on the moon, fast motion lights of cars driving at night, students running through a playground, students learning science, then, scientists studying geothermal images on a computer and going outside, people boating and exploring by the water, a mother and child riding on a bike. Finally, the red and blue inverted triangles of the Chevron Logo, saying "human energy." I do not have a first memory of Chevron except that it was not a station my family typically went to. It was often too expensive. As a result, I still do not go. However, in the face of the oil crisis, what struck me about this ad was that uses the American code for car (freedom), but explores it using the physical world. Many of the images it shows uses utopian cartography to get the consumer to understand what they really want. The quiet images of Sir Edmund Hillary & the man on the moon play upon the American drive for idealism, that we as a nation assume that the nation should stand for something. These historical events mark that stand. Then, one sees the fast past movement of cars that draw us to modern time. Movement is healthy. Children learning bring us back to the simplicity of our childhood and then the ad takes us outside. Most people remember the outdoors as being a fun place where life was simple and peaceful. Mountains represent exploration. The water represents transquility. The ad takes us to all four corners of the United States and then shows us the image of a mother and child on a bike, with a look of peace. Overall, this ad appeals to the viewer because of our intert desire to create a peaceful environmental Utopia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XlqPq2bvv0