1,000 ad agencies ditch fossil fuel companies, as campaign readies to call out industry’s greenwashing laggards

Ad agencies have ditched the fossil fuel industry en masse – with 1,000 companies leaving big oil and gas to feel the heat. However, some are staying faithful to these climate-wrecking corporations killing the planet.

As a result, a PR fossil fuel divestment campaign is sizing up the remaining culprits. Brilliantly, it is preparing to call them out at its prestigious – or rather, infamous – award ceremony for the biggest bullshitters in the business.

Clean Creatives marks divestment milestone

Clean Creatives is a campaign to push ad agencies and PR companies to drop their fossil fuel clients. As its website explains:

We are strategists, creatives, and industry leaders who believe that fossil fuel clients represent a threat to our shared future.

Essentially, climate-conscientious PR and ad professionals have banded together to clean up their industry’s unethical role pumping out propaganda for big polluters.

As it stands, many in the sector shill for oil and gas corporations. For instance, the world’s six largest advertising and public relations companies hold ties to the fossil fuel industry. These include: Omnicom Group, WPP, Interpublic Group (IPG), Publicis Groupe, Dentsu, and Havas.

However, on 22 April, the group marked a major milestone in their divestment campaign. To date, the project has galvanised 1,000 agencies across the globe to abandon fossil fuel companies. That is, 1,000 PR and advertising companies have now pledged to refuse work from the climate-wrecking industry.

Significantly, this was a doubling of pledges in just a year. Of the 1,000 agencies who have signed the Clean Creatives pledge, the United States tops the list of agency HQ locations with 350 pledges. Companies from the UK were hot on its heels, with 265 signing up. Meanwhile, Canada is third at 65, with South Africa on 57, Germany with 43. Additionally, Australia had 36, the Netherlands 30, and Sweden came in at 20 pledges.

Executive director of Clean Creatives Duncan Meisel said:

We’re incredibly proud to stand with 1,000 agencies of all sizes and disciplines worldwide refusing to work with the fossil fuel industry. The Clean Creatives pledge has galvanized a global community of agencies committed to serious climate action, and they are seeing countless benefits in employee engagement, positioning for clients, and alignment for purpose. We’re grateful to every agency that has stepped up to lead on this issue. They are showing the importance of leadership, and I think we can look forward to many more joining them.

The ‘F-List’ hall of ad agencies greenwashing shame

Despite this, fossil fuel companies still have their pick from a sizeable pool of ad and PR companies putting profit above people and the planet.

So, on 8 May, Clean Creatives will be naming and shaming the big greenwashing players in an eclectic list of not-so-glamourous awards.

Effectively, the ‘F-List’ is greenwashing’s answer to the Emmy’s – only it’s one accolade ad agencies shouldn’t want to be awardees. It boasts a who’s who of prolific shills for the fossil fuel industry. Think merchants of climate doubt and delay, and you have yourself the ‘F-List’ hall of shame.

The group will announce awards calling out a suite of masterclasses in outrageous greenwashing. What oil and gas spin awards ceremony would be complete without a hat-tip in honour of the forefather of fossil fuel propaganda?

In honor of the oiliest CEO in the biz, the Richard W. Edelman Award for Achieving Shortened Lifetimes pic.twitter.com/W8B0va6aJH

— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) April 25, 2024

That would be Richard W. Edelman, son of Daniel Edelman and founder of Edelman PR. As investigative reporter Amy Westervelt explored in her damning podcast expose, Daniel Edelman’s roots began in psychological warfare during World War II. The PR titan has worked hand in glove with big polluters like ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute for decades.

Fossil fuel influencers and “COP-Outs”

As well as this, the F-List will show where ad companies haven’t quite been as “down with the kids” as they’d intended:

The “How Do You Do Fellow Kids” Award for Excellence in Digital Cringe pic.twitter.com/Z6w7fa0PoW

— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) April 25, 2024

Given the fossil fuel industry’s shameless recent grift through social media influencers, it perhaps couldn’t be more apt.

Clean Creatives will also be serving up a bowl of scrutiny “salad”. In short, it will call out what it deems the “Greenest Greenwash”:

The Emerald Salad-Spinner Award for Greenest Greenwash pic.twitter.com/lq8VyPkJTk

— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) April 25, 2024

Meanwhile, ad corporation “COP-Outs” beware. Clean Creatives has just the award lined up to expose their oily connections at the key climate conference:

And in honor of last year’s oily #COP28 UN Climate Talks President, the Biggest COP-Out pic.twitter.com/GCFsBrQGqA

— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) April 25, 2024

If climate PR-accountability news outlet Desmog’s findings are anything to go by, there are plenty of candidates for it. Notably, the infamous Edelman alone sent 64 delegates to the November-December conference.

So, if you want to make big oil and gas squirm, tune in to the greenwashing corporates biggest event of the year. One thing’s for sure, Clean Creatives will be schooling the fossil fuel industry with a lesson in good PR. The F-List will give the planet-killing giants an all-too satisfying taste of their own branding medicine. Just watch the fossil fuel majors try to spin their way out their way out of that.

Feature image via Clean Creatives