Can Advertising Avoid Becoming Climate Enemy No. 2?

It must be uncomfortable for advertising executives to watch their Big Oil clients testify before Congress about their companies' alleged misleading messages. In a House oversight committee hearing last year, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) highlighted the mixed messaging between Exxon CEO Darren Woods' comments to the public and what the company's own scientists were warning about for years in private. Those oil, coal and gas clients are climate enemy No. 1. But their sidekick, the advertising industry, isn’t far behind. The dangers of 'lobbytising' It’s likely that those same big agency CEOs and directors watching their fossil-fuel clients squirm will be next to perch on those hard wooden chairs, staring up at the raised bench of elected representatives. The questioners will have their pick of terrible examples. At its worst, advertising has acted as "lobbytising." Instead of selling products, lobbytising sells greenwashed ideas that hide the carbon-heavy truth. And although brands are commissioning the work, it's ad agencies crafting that misinformation with all the creative energy inherent in our industry. This becomes painfully clear in light of the fact that, in 2020, clean energy investments by the oil and gas industry accounted for about 1% of its total capital expenditure. Just 1%. And yet, around 50% of its advertisements and promotions are about green issues. That 1-to-50 ratio should be a source of shame for every agency fulfilling those briefs. Who's on the F List? Many agencies choose not to disclose everyone who pays their bills. While more than 170 agencies have signed onto the Client Disclosure Reports, not one of them is part of the big agency networks. To bring some clarity to these murky waters, campaigners from Clean Creatives have created the F List: advertising and PR companies that are working for the fossil-fuel industry. There can’t be anyone working in advertising unaware that we are increasingly under scrutiny for our work’s impact on climate change. The climate impact of our office energy bills must be managed, but it simply doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of what we do as businesses. The Advertising Association has estimated that the entire carbon footprint of the U.K. ad industry, worth over $20 billion a year, is just 1.1 million metric tons. What we don’t adequately account for are the emissions of influence—our "brainprint." Take the car company Audi. A single advertising campaign generated, according to the carmaker, $1.78 billion of incremental revenue. If that claim is correct, it also generated 5.1 million metric tons of additional carbon—nearly five times the recognized figure for the entire U.K. ad industry. These calculations were made by the experts at Purpose Disruptors, who work with an econometrics agency to dig into the real impact of advertising on emissions. They have calculated that in 2019, the U.K. advertising industry was in fact responsible for more than 186 million metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). The most frustrating part of this situation is that advertising should be the most powerful tool in our fight against climate change, rather than the cause of it. Ad agencies have such power over carbon emissions because of the people we influence. Estimates show that households are responsible for 72% of emissions, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasizes the role of behavior change in solving global warming. What everyday people wear, eat, drive, sit on and entertain their kids with all have meaningful consequences for our climate. Which means everyone has an opportunity to choose products that help rather than harm. And the advertisers influencing them can be the heroes of climate action. Instead of lobbying for the bad guys, advertising can make ocean-protecting shoes a coveted brand, build a humanizing story for fair treatment of workers and make it desirable to choose vegan. Destruction or solutions The friction between the angels and the devils of the advertising industry is building. Any agency director who doesn’t have a plan here—who hasn’t picked a side—is likely to be caught in the crossfire. You choose what your creativity will serve: destruction or solutions. The immense power held by advertising over the future of the planet means that this is not a question of simply being on the right side of history. It is about powering that side—about throwing the very best of your creativity at it, about (sustainably) fueling its engines. You have a decision to make. Which side will you join—and what will you create once you’re there? Write Your Playbook for Sustainable Decision-Making

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Can Advertising Avoid Becoming Climate Enemy No. 2?

Marketers are increasingly under scrutiny for their work’s impact on global warming—and rightfully so

The dangers of ‘lobbytising’

Solitaire Townsend

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The dangers of ‘lobbytising’

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Solitaire Townsend