Getty Greta Thunberg off the coast of southwest England, on August 14, 2019.
A disturbing cartoon sticker of Greta Thunberg has been circulating among oil workers in Alberta, Canada. The sticker shows the 17-year-old being sexually assaulted along with the logo of X-Site Energy Services, which is a Canadian oil company.
Alberta resident Michelle Narang, who said in an interview with Huffington Post Canada that she is a proud supporter of Canadian energy and the oil industry, shared that she couldn’t remain silent when she saw the sticker. She was shocked, and decided to post the sticker on Facebook with the caption “This company represents everything that the [oil and gas] industry needs to fight against.”
She told Huffington Post Canada that the oil and gas industry “is an industry Alberta is fighting for so desperately. This sticker is not something Alberta or Albertans need.” The cartoon shows the back of a nude female with two hands pulling on her braids from behind, and the name “Greta” is written across her back.
The Sticker Was Handed Out as Promotional Material for Oil Workers to Wear on Hard Hats
Large excavators load trucks with oil sands at the Suncor mine in Alberta, Canada.
Narang received the image of the sticker from one of her friends who works in the oil industry. Huffington Post Canada spoke with this oil worker, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions at work. The worker said that the sticker had been distributed as promotional material for workers to wear on hard hats at job sites. They said that the sticker hadn’t been distributed at their work but the image of the sticker was widely shared among colleagues.
The general manager of X-Site, Doug Sparrow, told City News Edmonton that he has been flooded with emails and social media messages with complaints about the sticker. He said that the company had not been involved in making that sticker: “It’s not from X-Site or any employee, someone has done this. That’s all I know.”
Michelle Narang reported a different response from Sparrow, however. According to Michelle Narang in her interview with HuffPost Canada, she called Sparrow to ask him about the decals, saying he replied that he knew about them and his company was involved in their distribution. Narang told media that she asked Sparrow “You’re okay then with having your logo attached to a sticker that depicts the rape of a child? His response was ‘she’s not a child, she’s 17.'”
Greta Thunberg Responded to the Sticker, Saying It Means “We’re Winning”
Greta Thunberg had a clear message in response to the sticker circulating, saying it shows the desperation of the oil industry and that the cause is “winning.”
The climate change activist has become a symbol for the movement in the past year, encouraging people to protest and take solid climate change action. In 2019, she became the Person of the Year in TIME Magazine, the youngest to ever receive that honor.
She has never hesitated to respond to controversy and criticism online. In December, President Donald Trump tweeted that Thunberg has an anger management problem and needed to “chill.”
She answered by briefly changing her Twitter bio to read: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.”
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