Down the Rabbit Hole with Citgo

Remember those tear-jerker telephone commercials of the ‘70s and ‘80s? Do you recall how they were as sappy and almost romantically sad, pulling on your emotional strings? Well, I don’t know if they are the same writers or not, but the new public relations campaign by embattled Citgo leaves that same weird taste in your mouth.

The oil giant, run by the Venezuelan government headed by the dangerous lunatic Hugo Chavez, has been under intense public fire lately. Recent similar P.R. stunts, such as whipping the New York media into mini-frenzy by giving poor, destitute American citizens free fuel for their homes, didn’t have the overall desired results they had hoped. (Just ask actor/activist/career-suicide prone and publicity-hound friend of President Hugo Danny Glover how his public image has been since his Chavez love-in.)

The attempt by Citgo to fight their image as part of a crazy mans empire has led to television commercials that hold up sacrificial ‘underprivileged’ Americans as having no other choice but to accept the graciousness of the wonderful Citgo. The advertising brass played it by the book and threw in a few spots with Joe Kennedy. If you want to make America look bad to Americans, always go with a Kennedy for good measure. Of course, one has to question the sincerity of Joe, who preaches the ultra-green environmental doctrine on one hand and does commercials for a global oil giant on the other.

The message isn’t one of awareness or even a call for change as it is a transparent indictment of the current government. The added layers tell us we should actually be thankful for Citgo, since they are willing to do what our own government won’t. Santa Hugo is here, and he’ll take care of you. Down the rabbit hole we go. Talk about a Hallmark card moment.

It is obvious that the groundswell of protest against Hugo Chavez and Citgo is having its desired effect. If it wasn’t making a dent, Citgo wouldn’t be reacting so strongly and overtly with such desperately-themed ads. It will not be a successful spin attempt, however. No matter what side of the political fence you stand on, no American forgets a foreign leader calling the President of the United States a ‘devil’ at the United Nations. And no American in good conscience, no matter how sappy the commercial, should give Citgo their business.