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“It’s that time of the year again,” the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company told Emiratis in a Ramadan advertising campaign. “Where tanks are always full – for night after night of majlis hopping.”
When you think about fossil fuels, you might think of offshore oil platforms flaring gas in rough seas, the US/Iran war or the greenhouse effect heating up the world’s climate. A new report argues, however, that what Big Oil wants you to think about is family, friends and faith instead.
The advertising industry campaign group Clean Creatives went through the records and found that in 2026, the year climate breakdown went so haywire gardeners were growing watermelons in Bristol, there were 1,321 active contracts between the fossil fuel industry and advertising agencies, the most ever recorded.
As the war in Iran intensified global shortages of oil and gas, leading to spiking prices and profits for the oil companies, the fossil fuel industry appears to have invested part of its windfall on its image. Clean Creatives found that 386 fossil fuel companies across 73 countries had engaged 802 advertising and PR agencies to shape their public image and messaging.
Strikingly, business links between the two industries held strong, despite agencies’ claims of environmental responsibility, said the lead researcher, Nayantara Dutta.
“By reading through all of their climate disclosures, what I find most telling this year is this is the first year in our research where advertising agencies are across the board acknowledging climate risk in their annual reports,” she said.
Omnicom was the advertising company that held the most contracts with the fossil fuel industry, with 118 contracts, followed by WPP, with 88. In third place was Publicis, whose 34 fossil fuel industry contracts were no barrier to its being named as one of Time magazine’s most sustainable companies of 2026.
Dutta led a team of four who spent nine months compiling the survey. They painstakingly documented each contract by piecing together information from lobbying databases, creative portfolios and even LinkedIn posts. They quantified the extent of the trade and assessed its storytelling.
Advertising executives were portraying their fossil fuel industry clients as indispensable to our ways of life and economic security, Dutta said.
“The cultural themes we have always seen have continued,” she said. “But there is a global trend of increased economic insecurity and fear-mongering around energy supply and demand, around jobs and around fossil fuels as being essential.”
“Energy security requires all of our energy,” said Equinor, the Norwegian oil company that wants to develop the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea, in a LinkedIn campaign by McCann Relationship Management, an Omnicom agency.
Chevron launched a campaign celebrating the US’s 250th anniversary, announcing it was “the energy that keeps America moving”. “Since 1879, our people have been more than a source of energy. They’ve been a source of progress,” the company claimed in a Facebook ad.
“In the US, UK, and Europe, we’re seeing a lot of nationalism,” Dutta said. “Really connecting the economic prosperity of a country with the fossil fuel industry and its expansion.”
In the global south, on the other hand, fossil fuel firms often tie themselves to family life and cultural events. Pointing to Adnoc’s “unsettling” Ramadan advert, she said: “Basically they position themselves not only as a company that is helping the economy and providing jobs, but as a company who cares about the culture and wellbeing of their people.
“So rather than addressing the political news of what’s happening in the world, they like to focus on the same themes of family and community to show themselves as integral to building that.”
A spokesperson for the Advertising Association told the Guardian: “Fossil fuel advertising represents a very small proportion of overall UK advertising spend. Where such campaigns do run in the UK, they are subject to some of the world’s strictest regulation under the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and CAP Codes. The rules are clear: ads must not mislead consumers, and companies presenting environmental claims must demonstrate total transparency regarding the full scope of their activity, including distinguishing between renewable and fossil fuel operations.
“The ASA actively monitors and enforces compliance in this space, routinely taking action against claims that fall short. Alongside strict regulatory standards, programs such as Ad Net Zero continue to equip UK agencies and advertisers with the tools to reduce operational emissions, eliminate greenwashing and support the broader transition to a low-carbon economy.”
