{"id":21800,"title":"Why We Disagree With British Cycling","description":"Our reaction to the sponsorship deal agreed upon between Shell and British Cycling. If you have an interest in British Cycling, you probably will have noticed that British Cycling has announced an eight-year sponsorship deal with Shell UK. It\u2019s certainly been a newsworthy story and has been covered by the BBC, CNN, The Daily Telegraph, and ForecourtTrader along with cycling websites and many more","content":"

Our reaction to the sponsorship deal between Shell and British Cycling.<\/p>

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If you have an interest in cycling in the UK, you probably will have noticed that British Cycling has announced an eight-year sponsorship deal with Shell UK. It\u2019s certainly been a newsworthy story and has been covered by the BBC, CNN, The Daily Telegraph, and ForecourtTrader along with cycling websites and many more.<\/p>

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\u201cBaffling sponsorship deal\u201d - PR Week<\/p><\/blockquote>

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PR Week described it as a \u201cbaffling sponsorship deal\u201d and environmental groups were quick to lambast both British Cycling and Shell.<\/p>

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As Rijden is an organisation that prides itself that its gifts for cyclists are produced using renewable energy, you\u2019d expect us to be against this deal. And we are but it\u2019s not just that Shell is fundamentally an oil company. We thought we ought to explain our reasoning.<\/p>

Unsubscribers<\/h3>

I included a copy of my email of complaint to British Cycling in our latest email newsletter. I wasn\u2019t sure how it would be received but it was the first time we\u2019d had some unsubscribers. I know, therefore, that this article is likely to lose Rijden some support.<\/p>

However, I\u2019d be betraying our values<\/a> if I said nothing.<\/p>

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Part of the original inspiration for Rijden was my concern about how products were being sourced and produced in terms of their impact on the environment and the people producing them.<\/p>

Some people have pointed to Shell\u2019s green credentials and their investment in renewable energy sources. Sadly, it\u2019s not all that the adverts portray. Shell\u2019s investment in renewable is tiny but it does spend a lot on advertising which portrays it in a favourable light.<\/p>

Reactions<\/h3>

Unsurprisingly, organisations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Guardian have condemned the move. The reaction from British cyclists, many of whom are members or former members of British Cycling has been more mixed.<\/p>

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Reactions fall into three main types:<\/p>