European Ad Agencies Targeted by Spoof Posters Calling Out Their Fossil Fuel Clients

Advertising agencies are coming under increased scrutiny for their work with fossil fuel brands and were once again on the receiving end of activism when a recent campaign ran across 200 bus stops in the U.K., Paris and Belgium. The campaign, coordinated by the anonymous artists collective Brandalism, was timed to coincide with protests against advertising and sponsorship by fossil fuel brands. This happened within a week of the launch by Greenpeace and 20 other organizations to campaign for a European Union law to be passed making the promotion of such brands illegal. Described as a “subvertising” campaign, the spoof ads have run across Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow and Reading in the U.K. They take aim at fossil fuel burning brands such as BP, Shell, EasyJet and Jaguar Land Rover—while also featuring the logos of their agencies such as Vizeum, Ogilvy, MediaCom and VCCP. 'It’s no good saying, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger,’ when advertising agencies have some of the best creative minds in the country,' said Robbie Gillett, Adfree Cities. The campaign was coordinated by a number of groups over four days including in the U.K. by Adfree Cities and Badvertising, Liège Sans Pub in Belgium, Résistance À L’Agression Publicitaire in France and Reclame Fossielvrij (Fossil Free Advertising) in the Netherlands. Activists in Stockholm also presented politicians with giant cigarettes containing a new report on greenwashing, which includes analysis of 3034 adverts and promotions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube by six selected fossil fuel companies. Fossil fuel adverts were also covered up around the city of Bristol. “The Brandalism network has created satirical posters and they have brought the advertising agency’s names back into the climate picture,” director of protest organization, Adfree Cities, Robbie Gillett told Adweek. “By bringing the advertising agencies back into the picture, we want to say ‘we’re in a climate crisis and it’s not appropriate to provide greenwashing services to major polluters … or normalize the ongoing consumption of high carbon products.” He continued: “It’s no good saying, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger,’ when advertising agencies have some of the best creative minds in the country. People working in those industries need to assess their role in the climate crisis and more specifically, they need to reject working on high carbon briefs.” 'Advertisers’ constant manufacturing of new desires for never-ending cycles of consumerism is trashing the planet. We need a paradigm shift,' said Tona Merriman from Brandalism. “Greenwash is the second wave of climate denial, in which polluters use false claims about carbon offsetting and ‘net zero’ to delay meaningful climate action. We want to bring the ad agencies who do this greenwashing back into the picture,” explained Tona Merriman from Brandalism. “Even when they’re not actively deceiving the public, advertisers’ constant manufacturing of new desires for never-ending cycles of consumerism is trashing the planet. We need a paradigm shift,” she added. None of the agencies featured would comment on the campaign when approached by Adweek. However, a spokesperson from the Advertising Association did respond, explaining that the industry’s response to the climate emergency was one of its current priorities, highlighting its own initiative Ad Net Zero, with organizations such as the IPA and ISBA, as one opportunity for agencies to support change. “We recognize the right for individual companies to decide who they do and don’t work with, but as an industry, we do not believe that preventing the advertising of certain categories of products is the right approach. Rather, it is right to regulate irresponsible ads and to actively prevent campaigns that are ‘greenwashing’,” it added, citing a new training initiative that was set to launch as part of Ad Net Zero. “Over this coming decade, the advertising industry will play a crucial role in encouraging people to switch to more sustainable alternatives, support innovation and competition and drive down cost of new technologies needed.” Meanwhile, Adfree Cities has begun to call on local councils in Britain to ban the use of advertising and sponsorship for fuel-burning cars, airlines and fossil fuel companies on public transport, following a similar motion agreed this summer by Amsterdam on such promotions on its subway system and a ban on fossil fuel advertising in bus shelters and tram stops in the Hague. Beverage Brand Innocent Accused of 'Greenwashing' Its Plastics Impact Through Advertising In March, Liverpool in England announced its intention to explore a similar ban, followed by Norwich in June. This activity comes just days after the campaign was launched by organizations including Friends of the Earth, Actionaid, ClientEarth, Badvertising, Adfree Cities and Stop Funding Heat to drive 75,000 people to sign up to prompt EU regulators to consider making fossil fuel advertising illegal. At the time of writing, less than two weeks since the campaign began, over 58,000 people had pledged their support. Earlier this year, creative agency Mother's London offices were visited as part of a series of protests by a division of Existence Rebellion, aiming to have a campaign created for drinks brand Innocent banned. This Young Initiative Aims to Make Reusable Consumer Goods Mainstream