For the first time, a report listing 41 advertising and PR agencies with current and historic contracts with coal, oil, and gas companies has been released by the South African chapter of a global coalition of media agencies called Clean Creatives.
Drawing on established science, the report goes on to state the resulting global heating is leading to extreme weather events. An increasingly unstable climate threatens our food security, health, and the ecosystems we depend on for survival. One of the campaigns singled out is Total’s rebrand to TotalEnergies in 2021, featuring Springbok rugby captain Siya Kolisi in a campaign by Edelman PR agency highlighting TotalEnergies’ solar-powered service stations.
He says advertising agencies’ justification that they are helping their fossil fuel clients navigate the just transition by helping them to communicate their commitment to clean energy is indefensible when in reality their clients are directing just 1% of their capital expenditure on renewables, with the rest going to fossil fuel exploration and extraction.
But Sandra Gordon, veteran advertising industry expert and founder and managing director of Stone Soup Public Relations, said there was ‘not much clean’ in general about what the advertising industry did. Katlego Mahura, managing director at Idea Engineers, one of the agencies named on the F-List for work with Sasol, said their current engagements with the fossil fuel sector are related to programmes offering bursaries for underprivileged youth and encouraging school children to pursue STEM careers.