Research by the advertising industry campaign group Clean Creatives has documented a record number of contractual relationships between fossil fuel companies and advertising agencies this year. The analysis identified 1,321 active contracts, representing work by 802 advertising and public relations firms engaged by 386 fossil fuel companies across 73 countries to manage their public messaging and corporate image.
Lead researcher Nayantara Dutta, who spent nine months compiling the survey with a team of four researchers, noted that the expansion of these business relationships occurred despite widespread acknowledgment of climate risk by advertising agencies in their annual corporate disclosures. The three largest advertising holding companies by volume of fossil fuel contracts were Omnicom with 118 contracts, WPP with 88, and Publicis with 34, though Publicis simultaneously received recognition as one of Time magazine’s most sustainable companies this year.
The research indicates that advertising campaigns have shifted their messaging strategies based on geographic region. In developed markets including the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, fossil fuel firms increasingly frame their operations as essential to national economic prosperity and energy security. Equinor, a Norwegian oil company, and Chevron have launched campaigns emphasizing their roles in economic progress and national prosperity. In contrast, companies operating in the global south tend to position themselves as integral to cultural identity and family life, as exemplified by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s Ramadan advertising campaign.
Dutta observed that advertising messaging increasingly leverages economic anxiety and concerns about energy security to justify fossil fuel expansion. The campaigns present these companies not merely as energy providers but as essential contributors to societal wellbeing and national identity.
The Advertising Association stated that fossil fuel advertising represents a small fraction of overall UK advertising spending and remains subject to regulatory oversight through the Advertising Standards Authority and CAP Codes, which prohibit misleading claims and require transparency regarding environmental assertions.
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