The campaign Clean Creatives say 530 agencies have now signed their pledge not to work with “fossil fuels polluters”.
The advertising, PR and comms agencies who have signed include FischTank PR, Grey Horse Communications, Multitude Media and 527 others.
The list of clients excluded by the Clean Creatives pledge, which has been running for two years, includes companies whose primary business extracts, processes or sells oil and gas.
It also includes utilities companies that “generate more than 50% of their electricity from fossil fuels” or generate “more than 50% of their revenue” from the fossil fuel business, and trade associations that represent the interests of these companies.
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Some of the fossil fuel affiliated companies and organisations signees say they will cease to work with include this list on the website energypersonnel.com (featuring organisations like the American Gas Association and the US Oil and Gas Association).
“Every agency still working with fossil fuel clients is putting their reputations on the line. Fossil fuel companies are walking away from their renewable energy investments and the net zero goals that ad and PR agencies have helped them promote,” the group’s director Duncan Meisel told The Drum.
The advertising industry is often accused of greenwashing – in just one example, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently ordered airline company Etihad to take down a Facebook ad in which it claimed it had “a smaller environmental footprint” due to reducing single use plastics on board.
Fossil Free Media, who support the Clean Creatives Campaign, highlighted in February how big oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron have backed away from investment into ideas like algae biofuels for more low-carbon transport.
“Big Oil’s backtracking will solidify the public perception that these companies have always been lying about their climate commitments. Over the last decade, the industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to convince the public that they care about climate action because they know it is essential to maintaining their social license,” said director Jamie Henn.
