(U-WIRE) SAN DIEGO – A new TV commercial includes shots of oceans, blue skies, loving families, cuddly animals, rising suns, people of all nationalities and amputees running sprints.

What could it be for?
Greenpeace? No.
Life insurance? No.

It’s an advertisement for the multi-national mega corporation Chevron. Its new two-and-a-half-minute TV spot, part of its “Power of Human Energy” campaign and shot and directed by the cinematographer of “Lost in Translation” and “Being John Malkovich,” boasts that Chevron is not a “corporate titan” but “human beings doing our share.”

The ad first aired during a break for “60 Minutes” on CBS and gave the distinct impression that Chevron cares for every living person on Earth and that it’s committed to helping everyone’s needs.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Chevron is one of the few remaining corporations with ties to the deadly regime behind Burma (also referred to as Myanmar), thereby indirectly aiding the killing of Buddhist monks, reporters and civilians.

In 1997, the Clinton Administration barred all new investments in the junta-run nation. However, companies already investing inside the country were exempted because of a grandfather clause. Chevron is one of the companies that was exempted by the clause and continues business in the country and pays taxes to the government.

By doing so, they are supporting the human rights violations of the Texas-sized nation in the last few weeks and its military buildup of the last few years. Natural gas, an important part of Chevron’s operations in Burma, brought $2.16 billion to the military regime of Burma through taxes and operation fees, according to the Human Rights Watch.

It is imperative that this San Ramon-based corporation get out of Burma if it wants to continue to call itself an American corporation. The government is threatening the freedom of millions of people, which is something that no citizen or user of gas should stand for.

Without the oil pipelines that run from Burma to Thailand, the military government would not be able to have money to kill civilians.

Chevron should be the first to stop business in Burma because of the murders of pro-Democracy protesters. Chevron should stand up for the political ideology that allowed it to become a multi-national corporation based in the United States. In order to stop having an American corporation’s oil flow through pipelines, the U.S. government needs to force Chevron out of Burma, given its human rights violations. If the United States is willing to go to war for freedom of itself and others, the least it could do is prevent a U.S. corporation from financially supporting a freedom-hating regime.

If it doesn’t want to leave, major restrictions should be imposed on its ability to sell petroleum inside the United States until its policies are changed.

Chevron leaving Burma, however, will not stop the violence in the region. Thai and Chinese petroleum companies will only go in and take over the void left by the American company, not changing the socio-political dynamics of the region. It’s more important, though, that an American company take responsibility to leave an embattled region if it wants to call itself a corporation, an entity that is made up of “human beings doing our share” for the rest of humanity.

Even if Chevron chooses to be anti-American and stay in Burma, the least it could do is stop airing its misleading ad campaign, championing itself as the “Power of Human Energy.” Sadly, unless the government steps up – which is unlikely – Chevron will not change its policies. Chevron will continue to do business how it wants because one of its former board of directors is now the Secretary of State of the United States: the corporate-friendly Condoleezza Rice.

As record-high profits continue to drive the company, there is no reason to change.

In its ad, Chevron says that humans have an ever-increasing demand for energy, and they plan to be there to help fulfill the need. If anything, people need to decrease their need for energy, not have the world’s 14th largest energy corporation tell them that we need to use more.

Chevron may claim that it cares about the world and its needs, but it only cares about its own needs: making money. As long as it continues to spend $63 million in advertising – like it did in 2006, according to Brandweek – it will be able to convince people that Chevron does care, which is a very scary thought. Because it’s unlikely that the U.S. government will step in, Americans must help in the only way they can: Stop pumping gas at Chevron gas stations.