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Alykhan Velshi's eye-popping ads are premised on the notion that oil exports ultimately underwrite the values of those states that produce them. 'Conflict oil' funds 'dictatorship' and 'terrorism' and results in 'women stoned to death,' according to the ads

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The EthicalOil.org site suggests consumers must choose between oil produced by dictatorships or oil produced by democracies. Shown are the flags of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

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The EthicalOil.org site posits that consumers must choose between oil produced by countries that repress women or oil produced by countries that celebrate them. Shown on the left is a women being stoned in Iran in the late 1970s. Shown on the right is the current Mayor of Fort McMurray, Melissa Blake.

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The EthicalOil.org site suggests consumers must choose between oil resulting from "good jobs" in Canada or "forced labour" in repressive countries. This ad nods to Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, where the United Nations has condemned certain mining operations for using forced labour, according to EthicalOil.org spokesman Alykhan Velshi.

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The EthicalOil.org site claims consumers should choose between oil producers who ravage their environments and oil producers who clean up their messes. Pictured here is an oil field in the Niger Delta and also a reclaimed, reforested Syncrude site in Western Canada.

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The EthicalOil.org site argues that consumers must choose between oil produced by countries that fund terrorism or oil produced by countries that bankroll peacekeeping operations. Shown on the left is a derrick in Saudi Arabia, and on the right is a “Reconciliation,” a peacekeeping monument in Ottawa.

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The EthicalOil.org site proffers that consumers must choose between oil that comes from countries that repress gays and lesbians or oil produced by countries that celebrate gays and lesbians. Creator Alykhan Velshi says the image on the left shows gays being hanged in Iran. The image on the right is from Toronto’s annual Pride parade.

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The EthicalOil.org site suggests repressive states like Sudan, now separating into two after protracted ethnic civil war, use oil revenues to kill indigenous peoples. Meantime, certain aboriginal Canadian bands living near Fort McMurray are said to have close to zero unemployment thanks to the jobs the drilling projects bring.

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