Unofficial footage of Shell’s ’embarrassing moment’ at Sunday’s F1 Shell Belgium Grand Prix reaches 240,000 views before YouTube removal
A video showing the moment a remote-controlled banner appeared at Sunday’s F1 Shell Belgium Grand Prix has been removed by Youtube, following a complaint from ‘F1 Management’. The footage of the winner’s ceremony – entitled “Shell’s priceless Grand Prix moment” – had attracted nearly a quarter of a million views in just over 36 hours.
Greenpeace International posted the video late on Sunday following a protest at the Spa circuit in Belgium, targeting race sponsor Shell’s plan to drill for oil in the melting Arctic.
The action saw paragliders fly over the crowds and two large banners placed around the track – in full view of Shell VIPs. The protest culminated in a bizarre moment at the winner’s ceremony when two remote-controlled banners reading “SaveTheArctic.org” popped up during the German national anthem and were hastily removed by officials.
Says Ben Ayliffe, Arctic campaigner at Greenpeace International: “Bernie Ecclestone and Shell might know how to fill a racetrack, but they clearly have no idea how social media works. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen the moment Shell’s Arctic plans were uncovered at the Grand Prix, and removing this video will only encourage thousands more to laugh at the company too. Shell spends millions on slick branding to distract the public from its plans to drill in the melting Arctic. One thing they can’t control is social media, and the heavy-handed attempt to suppress this video shows that what large companies fear most is public scrutiny and ridicule”.
The video has been reposted by Greenpeace and has been uploaded by a number of other individuals since its removal. Greenpeace is encouraging members of the public to upload the video elsewhere on the internet
Shell’s Arctic drilling programme reads like a catalogue of PR mistakes. The company attempted to drill exploratory wells in the US Arctic in 2012, but cancelled their program after a series of blunders including a rig grounding and a ship fire which even led the US government to claim they “screwed up“.
Shell has since signed a joint venture deal with Russian state owned energy company Gazprom to drill offshore in the Russian Arctic, where regulations are weaker and accidents are common.