HOW PR AND AD AGENCIES BLOCK CLIMATE ACTION:
For over 100 years, PR firms and ad agencies have sent the same message: “fossil fuel companies are part of the solution.”
They’ve built a covert relationship with fossil fuel companies to prop up their respective bottom lines, while pushing the planet past its breaking point, and polluting the communities of poor people and people of color worldwide.
In 1914, Ivy Lee, the man who created the first press release, worked with John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil to undo the public relations damage done by Rockefeller’s violent suppression of a miner’s strike by having him visit with families of dead workers. He pledged to listen to their grievances and promised to make changes for workers -- and put off calls for more stringent regulations of his labor practices.
The empty pledge to be part of the solution has been the foundation of the fossil fuel industry’s strategy to accumulate more power and influence for over a century, and they’ve relied on PR and ad agencies to carry it out.
Today’s versions of that message -- promoting new technologies, lofty claims about human rights, embracing diversity -- are used to enable the industry to continue selling and burning fossil fuels even as the planet experiences year after year of record temperatures and catastrophic extreme weather events caused by carbon pollution.
The work done on behalf of fossil fuel companies by professional communicators remains almost entirely undisclosed, but a clear picture has emerged from the data that has become public. We have begun to document wherever possible the public relationships between agencies and oil companies, as well as their trade associations and front groups. The full story is larger, and speaks to a coordinated effort to peddle influence with the public, and in halls of power.
The secrecy - and value - of these fossil fuel campaigns has only increased as the planet warms and the legal and social threats to the fossil fuel industry grow. Fossil majors are investing more in their public image as historic marches for climate action touch every country and continent, lawsuits from nations and local governments that target oil industry greenwashing and deception, and the public grows more aware of the causes and impacts of climate change.
Despite their coordinated efforts at secrecy, the full scope of these deceptive campaigns will ultimately be revealed through increased public scrutiny, employee whistleblowers, and growing government action.
As they have for over a century, the fossil fuel industry is going to their same playbook to try to diminish and defeat rising calls for change. With a shift in political leadership in the United States, as well as new regulations on pollution in the EU and beyond, we can expect that in the coming year, they will once again use their largely secretive relationships with professional communicators to manipulate the public debate on climate action, and seek to further delay needed change.
With the final window for meaningful global action on climate change closing, it’s time for the ad and PR firms of the world to put an end to this century of deception, and refuse new work for fossil fuel clients.
THE HIDDEN DIRTY WORLD OF FOSSIL FUEL PR & ADVERTISING
Much of the financial relationship between PR and ad companies and the fossil fuel industry remains hidden behind non-disclosure agreements, confidential contracts, and literal closed doors.
The goal of PR and ad companies’ work for fossil fuels is simple: obstruct climate action by positioning fossil fuel companies as part of the solution to climate change, rather than the most important cause of the problem. As with the work of PR and ad companies on behalf of tobacco companies, this work has the power to change the public discourse surrounding government measures to protect the public - at the cost of many thousands of lives.
What we do know about this covert work by professional communicators has been documented in peer-reviewed academic research, tax filings of industry groups, document leaks, and mentions in industry communications.
A review of data from trade association tax forms and academic research by Dr. Robert Brulle of Brown University on corporate promotion spending shows the fossil fuel industry has spent at least $1 billion on public relations and advertising over 5 years (2014-2018).
We know that this understates the true total, likely by a large degree.
OVER $200 MILLION PER YEAR
spent by the fossil fuel industry on corporate promotion and trade associations
This amount overwhelms the spending by the clean energy industry and public interest groups. In short, PR and ad companies are distorting the public discourse around climate change by drowning out the public.
Examining the discrepancy between clean energy trade groups and fossil fuel trade groups demonstrates this dynamic clearly. The fossil fuel industry spends enormous sums of money to promote its vision for our energy system. PR and ad firms are boosting the fossil fuel industry’s message, nearly to the exclusion of clean energy industries, who are outspent by fossil fuel campaigns by a ratio of 439 to 1.
POLLUTED PARTNERSHIPS
Most PR and advertising firms do their best to hide their connections to fossil fuel industry clients, but through leaks, mentions in industry press, and public filings of trade associations, we can identify some of the known connections between professional communicators and fossil fuels.
You won’t find any of the firms named below advertising their contracts with fossil fuel companies - likely because these polluted partnerships directly contradict communications firms’ mission and ethics statements, and their work for clients pursuing climate action.
Edelman CEO Richard Edelman says his company’s mission is to increase “confidence in the global institutions that form the framework of our society,” while working closely with billion dollar oil companies that are undermining trust in governments that try to manage the climate crisis. Edelman is also running campaigns aimed squarely at continuing or expanding the use of fossil fuels by fighting regulations that would restrict carbon pollution.
Omnicom proudly promotes their sustainability initiatives to reduce the impact of their offices and travel, while their subsidiary GSD&M is the main contractor producing campaigns for the largest oil and gas front group in America, the American Petroleum Institute.
David Ogilvy claimed that his company “must pull our weight as good citizens.” Now, Ogilvy is assisting BP to make misleading claims about their decarbonization plans while extreme weather events accelerate, and BP remains one of the biggest spenders on new oil drilling on the planet.
It’s time for action, together.
With a change in political leadership in the United States, strengthening climate regulations in the EU, and a global debate about the nature of post-COVID economic recovery, fossil fuel companies once again face a potentially existential threat to their future.
Meanwhile, extreme weather disasters caused by fossil fuel pollution will continue, as will spills, toxic dumping, and air pollution that threaten fenceline communities worldwide. The urgent need to shift the PR and ad industry’s role in the fossil fuel economy could not be more clear.
While this report primarily addresses public communications by ad and PR agencies working for fossil fuels, there is also an even more clandestine network of bad actors committed to dirty tricks under the guise of ‘crisis communications’ and informal lobbying work. These areas of work also require closer scrutiny.
Unless the entire ecosystem of agencies, creatives, and clients take action to address the growing harm of fossil fuel misinformation, the expansive relationship between PR and ad firms and fossil fuels will grow once more. Individuals and companies in every part of the advertising ecosystem have a role to play.
PR FIRM AND AD AGENCY EXECUTIVES
If you’re working with the fossil fuel industry, you’re part of the problem. Divest yourself from fossil fuel contracts and pledge to only work with businesses who support climate solutions.
CREATIVES, ACCOUNT MANAGERS, DEVELOPERS, AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATORS:
Your talent is the backbone of your industry, and your companies, and your voice matters. Make the Clean Creatives Pledge saying that you do not wish to work with fossil fuel industry clients.
CLIENTS:
Ask your PR and Ad firms to come clean about their ties to the fossil fuel industry, and make it clear that you do not want to work with firms that keep working for polluters.
POLICYMAKERS:
PR and ad firms are ground zero for misinformation and manipulation of the public on behalf of polluters. Investigate the ties between the fossil fuel industry and advertising and public relations firms, and support guidelines for how professional communicators should be protecting the public interest.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT
See the full POLLUTED PR report, including case studies of six major fossil fuel campaigns, and their impact on the public debate on climate change.