Greta Thunberg reacts to Canadian oil company’s logo on explicit cartoon

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has said a vulgar cartoon featuring the name of a fossil fuel company “shows that we’re winning”.

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has said a vulgar cartoon bearing the name of a Canadian energy company is a sign of desperation that “shows we are winning”.

The cartoon is not fit to publish but depicts a naked woman with Greta’s name written on her lower back having her Thunberg-esque braided hair pulled.

Under the illustration is the logo and name of X-site Energy Services, a Canadian company in the oil and gas industry.

X-site general manager Doug Sparrow told Canadian media the company wasn’t responsible for the image and alleged a third party created it.

TheHuffington Postreports an oil worker received the cartoon in the form of a sticker at a job site.

Greta Thunberg said the cartoon shows the fossil fuel industry is “starting to get more and more desperate”. Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

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They shared the photo with another person related to the oil and gas industry who posted it on Facebook.

That user, Michelle Narang, said the “disgusting” cartoon “represents everything the oil and gas industry needs to fight against”.

“I’m absolutely sickened that X-site Energy Services would think that the hard working men and women in the energy industry would condone this representation of a child.”

She said she called Mr Sparrow to complain and was told “she’s not a child, she’s 17”.

“I don’t care how much you disagree with the laments of a child — in Canada we don’t rape women and girls to teach them a lesson,” Ms Narang said.

The image attracted widespread condemnation across social media (and in the lower house of Canada’s parliament), with many suggesting it could be classed as child pornography.

Really? #oilandgas wants Canadians to rally behind them when top execs don’t condemn hard hat stickers promoting misogyny, rape & child pornography. Disheartening & certainly not the way forward. We must examine our own complicity as consumers... https://t.co/qgEww22EBo

— Eva Koch (@MmeKoch) February 29, 2020

This your daily reminder that people who hate Greta Thunberg have made and circulated child pornography.https://t.co/MAr7d6oNyw https://t.co/unUeMI3qL9

— Arabin Patson (@arabin_patson) February 29, 2020

Whoever was responsible for making the stickers of Greta Thunberg getting raped, I hope you get arrested and charged with child pornography. You can disagree with what she says but you do not have to right to portray anyone in a vulgar position.

— Paul (@banjosworld) February 27, 2020

This is horrible, disgusting, and promotes violent sexual assault.

Political leaders who have used the blockades to deepen divisions have to stop and denounce any threats to activists and to land and water defenders. https://t.co/33QwDyscNp

— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) February 28, 2020

They are starting to get more and more desperate...
This shows that we’re winning. https://t.co/NLOZL331X9

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 29, 2020

While the age of consent for someone having sex with an adult in Alberta, where X-site is based, is as low as 14, child pornography is classified as any visual representation of a person under 18 engaged in a sexual activity.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) determined the cartoon “does not meet the threshold of a criminal matter”.

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Ms Thunberg joined other teen climate activists to protest for action on climate change in England on Friday. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Around 15,000 people attended the march in Bristol, which has a population of less than half a million people. Picture: Leon Neal / Getty Images

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RCMP Superintendent Gerald Grobmeier told the Huffington Post that while people assumed it was the Swedish teenager, that wasn’t enough to go on.

“There’s a lot of assumptions on who that person is when they write the word ‘Greta.’ Unfortunately, with criminal cases you can’t make assumptions, you need facts,” Mr Grobmeier said.

He added the police thought it was “inappropriate” but not illegal, a decision that was backed up by a criminology professor at the University of Montreal.

Alberta’s culture minister denounced the illustration as “deplorable” and horrendous”.

The graphic in this article is completely deplorable, unacceptable and degrading. This is not what our province stands for. Whoever is responsible should be ashamed and apologize immediately. I stand with Albertans against this horrendous image. #ableg https://t.co/JisKaWI6lN

— Leela Sharon Aheer (@LeelaAheer) February 27, 2020

The Canadian House of Commons unanimously condemned the sticker on Friday afternoon.

The Member who tabled the motion to do so described the cartoon as “encouraging a violent sexual assault on a young environmental activist”.