Why Advertisers Are Returning to Big Oil Despite Net-Zero Pledges
The pushback against what banks called sustainable investing did a lot to change their perspective on the energy transition—and their fiduciary duty, which is to make money for their clients, not force them to cut their emissions. Now, advertisers are following the same path for pretty much the same reasons. Banks have discovered that investments in emission-reduction, carbon credits, and what transition proponents call climate tech do not pay as well as expected and, indeed, in some cases, it does not pay at all. Now, advertisers are discovering that artificial intelligence is encroaching on their territory and they need paying clients.
According to the FT report—and the Clean Creatives outlet—the ad industry’s rediscovery of the importance of making money has led to a change in marketing messaging for the energy industry that, the report implies, is inconsistent with net zero efforts. “Marketing spend is shifting towards making them seem [oil and gas] inevitable and vital,” the executive director of Duncan Meisel told the FT.
It is a fact that net-zero pundits resent the notion that oil and gas are indeed inevitable and vital for modern human civilization. In fact, some of those pundits acknowledge this, especially those involved in electricity generation. Every winter, the northern hemisphere gets a reminder of just how indispensable hydrocarbons are for securing power and heating once the wind dies down and the sun moves past its peak power generation period.
Ultimately, however, it is about survival. “Advertising is struggling — so all business is being considered,” one industry insider told the Financial Times. AI is turning into a substantial challenge for advertisers and marketers, threatening to render the industry unnecessary. “AI is going to make all the world’s expertise available to everybody at extremely low cost,” Mark Read, the former head of WPP, said earlier this year. “The best lawyer, the best psychologist, the best radiologist, the best accountant, and indeed, the best advertising creatives and marketing people often will be an AI, you know, will be driven by AI.”
In response to that challenge, the ad industry is, first, finding ways to use AI itself, and, two, securing all the business it can secure to ensure its longer-term survival. It so happens that oil and gas majors have the money, and companies such as Ørsted don’t have the money, because oil and gas are indeed inevitable and vital and will remain so until such energy technology is developed that has all the pros of hydrocarbons with none of their drawbacks.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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