X-Site Energy recalled its own Greta Thunberg decal after ministers condemned it

In late February 2020, X-Site Energy Services, an Alberta energy services company, was hit by a torrent of online outrage after a decal bearing its logo began circulating on Facebook: a sexually suggestive cartoon appearing to depict 17-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, with the name 'Greta' written below the drawing and the X-Site logo underneath. A resident of Rocky Mountain House said a friend sent her a picture of the decal and told her the stickers were being handed out at job sites.

The image drew condemnations from Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, provincial cabinet ministers and members of the House of Commons. General manager Doug Sparrow first told a caller he was aware the stickers were being distributed and stood by them — 'She is not a child. She is 17,' she said he told her — before denying responsibility to Calgary radio station CFFR: 'It's not from X-Site or any employee. Someone has done this. That's all I know.'

On the Monday the company issued a statement accepting full responsibility: 'This does not reflect the values of this company or our employees, and we deeply regret the pain we may have caused.' It committed to recovering and destroying the decals it had distributed, said management had made organizational changes effective immediately, and announced it was discussing a code of conduct with employees and would hold respect-in-the-workplace sessions with all staff. The RCMP reviewed the decals and determined that, while 'distasteful,' they did not meet the elements of child pornography.

Condemnation from Alberta's premier and cabinet ministers; the company recalled and destroyed the decals and made 'organizational changes'

The company put its logo on — or let circulate under its logo — a decal targeting a 17-year-old activist.

Its first responses made it worse: defending the stickers, then denying they were the company's at all.

The apology left basic questions unanswered — who made the decals and who approved handing them out — with 'organizational changes' undefined.

Whatever a crew hands out at job sites speaks in the company's voice — and the absence of a review step is how a sticker becomes a scandal.

X-Site said it was committed to recovering and destroying all the decals, asked the public to help take them out of circulation and stop republishing the images, and said other parties had been making more images bearing its logo. Thunberg responded on Twitter: 'They are starting to get more and more desperate… This shows that we're winning.'