No More Shell Game: Oil Brand Ends Gas Sales To Iran

Consumers boycott brands for almost as many reasons as there are brands. If you were looking for a brand to boycott because it made deals with both the US and the Islamic Republic of Iran (and in possible violation of the Iran Sanctions Act), the New York Times provided a handy list last weekend.

Most of the brands on the list are oil companies, and Royal Dutch Shell was one of the largest in terms of how much revenue it received from the US government. Whether it was the result of existing boycotts, its appearance on that Times list, or the fallout from that list – Congress is looking to end government contracts with companies that sell gas to Iran – the multinational brand announced that it will halt such sales to the increasingly isolated country.

(The irony of the conventional brand image of Iran – a nation teeming with oil – is that it actually needs to import gasoline because of inefficient refineries. Joining Shell in distancing itself from Iran this week is Ingersoll Rand, an industrial multinational whose brands include Schlage locks and Trane, a major HVAC company.)

Brands in the petroleum sector are among those held in the lowest public esteem (has an oil company ever been the “good guy” in a corporate thriller?), and the six brands considered “supermajors” – BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total S.A. – have done themselves no favors on the PR front over the years. Unlike the challenges of Big Tobacco, however, Big Oil isn’t facing a decrease in the consumption of its products, nor has it been the focus of multi-billion-dollar lawsuits in several states.

The cynical brand observer could conclude that Big Oil brands don’t need to worry as much about image as the average brand – such as when Tylenol learned its products were corrupted or when Mattel faced a massive toy recall. After all, activists relieved about Royal Dutch Shell’s reduced involvement in the Iranian economy can still choose to fret about the brand’s actions in Argentina and Alberta, Canada, for starters.