Hasta La Creative!

One of the ironies of the high-gas-price period is the dwindling ad spending among top gasoline retailers. With the exception of Chevron, they’re all spending less now than in recent years, doubtless to keep a low profile when their commercials likely prompt middle-finger salutes. (“Special additives, my ass!”) But Citgo is continuing a campaign of Marxist propaganda even more reprehensible than the supposed “greenwashing” led by BP. It’s been a while since an American agency has been asked to front for a fascist dictator (Hollywood and the American left carried water for Il Duce, but he was mostly selling himself), but Citgo is running more ads mentioning its free heating oil giveaway. The spots never acknowledge that the source of the bribe is Hugo Chavez, whose Petroleos de Venezuela bought half of Citgo in 1986 and the rest in 1990. Compounding the insult is the tagline: “Your locally owned Citgo, there at every turn”—lest any consumer feel compunction about fueling third-world repression with their fill-ups.

—Posted by Gregory Solman