Some of the UK’s biggest advertising agencies including Ogilvy, VCCP and MediaCom have been targeted due to their work with fossil fuel-producing clients like BP, British Airways, Shell and Jaguar Land Rover.
According to The Drum, the campaign was spearheaded by UK based anti-advertising movement Brandalism, who set up more than 100 billboards and bus stop ads across the UK.
For this campaign, Brandalism worked with Badvertising and Adfree Cities as part of a wider four day European movement targeting the ad industry and its platforming of clients who negatively impact the environment.
In a Twitter thread, Adfree cities shared the ‘ad hacks’ with the accompanying hashtag for the campaign: #BanFossilAds.
3/ Advertising & PR agency @Ogilvy have a long history of greenwashing @bp_plc . They handled BP's social media response to the Deep Water Horizon spill in 2010.
Time to #BanFossilAds
Art design by David Araeva @STMKTS Installation by @BrandalismUK in #Bristol , UK pic.twitter.com/TuRkgXyI73
— Adfree Cities (@adfreecities) October 11, 2021
7/ Burn Now, Pay Later. The ad agency @MediaComGlobal who work for Shell claim, "We unleash brands’ growth by helping them See The Bigger Picture"
Certainly, Shell are growing their fossil fuel extraction plans.
Art design by @signsofrevolt Subvert in Brighton #BanFossilAds pic.twitter.com/A3NCa4J6MT
— Adfree Cities (@adfreecities) October 11, 2021
The ads include slogans like “Burn Now…Pay Later. Our New Climate Policy” for Shell, who is a client of MediaCom, as well as posters for easyJet which sid “Raging wildfires. From €22.99”, including the VCCP logo at the bottom.
In an ad condemning Ogilvy, the poster-makers include a list of ‘The Ten Worst Corporations In The World’, pointing to number five, BP – a client of Ogilvy’s.
Brandalism recently deployed a similar billboard campaign targeting UK bank Barclays for financing fossil fuel companies.
The aim of the wider four day movement led by the European Citizens’ Initiative, which went from October 7 to October 10, was to “confront the communications strategies of big polluters with four days of decentralised, coordinated actions across Europe in the run up to COP26.”
COP26 refers to the UN’s climate summit in Glasgow.
Indeed, the European campaign is not the only billboard movement hoping to confront climate change at the conference.
Australian comedian Dan Ilic has raised tens of thousands of dollars to erect billboards at the Glasgow summit targeting Australia’s climate record. Named the ‘Truthful Billboard Project’, Ilic’s goal is to show that the delegates representing Australia at Glasgow “don’t necessarily represent Australians”.
So far, he has raised enough money to animate all three billboards, which will be hosted in the building where the conference takes place.
Featured Image: Twitter/@adfreecities
