Fwd: How fossil fuel ads manipulate us
Loretta Lohman
Welcome back to HEATED. The fossil fuel ads we discuss in today’s show are all over the news—but you’ll never find them here. That’s only possible because of the small community of readers who choose to support our independent journalism. If you want to keep this one corner of the internet ad-free and fossil-fuel-free, a paid subscription would mean the world.
How fossil fuel ads manipulate usOn today’s podcast, we watch and analyze fossil fuel ads.
On
this week’s podcast, Tracy and I watch and
analyze fossil fuel ads—and we do it with
Nayantara Dutta, head of research at Clean Creatives
and the lead author of their new report
analyzing nearly 2,000 fossil fuel ads from 2020
to 2024. (ICYMI: We covered that report for Tuesday’s newsletter.
Check it out!)
And more! We’ll also be releasing some fun bonus content tomorrow. Make sure you’re a paid subscriber to get it! The HEATED podcast is a new endeavor, and it only exists because of our community. If you have the means, becoming a paid subscriber ensures we can continue this work. Text transcript(Full PDF transcript) And the funny thing is these ads are almost never trying to sell us a product like gasoline. They’re trying to sell us a story, an idea, a feeling. So what exactly are the stories and ideas that the fossil fuel industry wants stuck in our heads? And are they true? That’s what we’re gonna suss out today. And we’re gonna do it with Nayantara Dutta, head of research at Clean Creatives. Nayantara is joining us from Mumbai, India. Hey, girl. Nayantara Dutta Hey, thanks for having me. Emily
Atkin Nayantara Dutta So Clean Creatives was founded in 2020 and we are a global campaign group which works specifically in the advertising and marketing industry to help creatives and agencies cut ties with fossil fuels. There’s a long history of disinformation through fossil fuel advertising, so we encourage creatives to be on the right side of history and pledge to drop oil. Emily Atkin You’re here today because you’re the lead author on a new report that analyzed almost 2,000 fossil fuel ads from 2020 to 2024. That’s a ton. We covered that report exclusively in the heated newsletter a couple days ago, but. Tell us briefly, what was it like watching all of those ads? Nayantara Dutta My gosh. It’s both hilarious and painful when you actually know the science behind fossil fuels because ads are intentionally lying to us about what’s actually happening. I think that we just see new sides of deception every time. It’s like watching a toxic relationship unfold. Emily Atkin Oh my gosh, all right, Well, we wanna get into the nitty gritty about what you found in the report, but we figured the best way to do that is to actually watch some of the ads that we’re talking about. My producer, Tracy, pulled a bunch of them together and she’s going to run them as we go. So Tracy, whenever you’re ready. Tracy Wholf Sure. So we’re going to start with a 2021 ad from, this is from Chevron called “Progress.” [AD DIALOGUE] Keep taking steps forward. The future of energy is lower carbon and to get there, the world needs to reduce global emissions. At Chevron, we’re taking action, tying our executives’ pay to lowering the carbon emissions intensity of our operations. It’s tempting to see how far we’ve come, but it’s only human to know how far we have to go. Emily Atkin This sounds like a company that is so committed to the planet. If I knew nothing about fossil fuel companies and just about climate change at all, would be like, ‘Chevron’s in this with me.’ Do you see that lady running up the stairs? She’s just like me. She cares about her health and so does Chevron. Chevron cares about my health. This is like very powerful messaging, I feel like. So what are we looking at here? Like, what is Chevron trying to do with this? Nayantara Dutta This
is from a campaign Chevron published from 2020
to 2022 called It’s Only Human. And Chevron has
called itself for years since 2007, the Human
Energy Company. Tracy Wholf Sorry, I just have to ask. This is obviously an ad that feels very targeted for a US audience. Do you see this messaging globally? I mean, is this being translated in languages all across the world for Chevron? Nayantara Dutta It is. And one thing we’ve noticed in our global research is if you look at the global south, the tone and the narrative behind advertising campaigns changes when it’s being localized. So the imagery of the cute baby and focus on poverty, focus on bringing electricity to rural communities is emphasized in the global south. We call it purpose washing. It’s one step beyond green washing because they’re aligning themselves with these CSR efforts when actually the very communities they’re helping are the ones that are also suffering as a result of their pollution. Emily Atkin Can
we talk about some of the specific claims that
they made in this ad? I wrote down a few phrases
that seems like they were worth picking apart a
little bit. They
[also] said, okay, we’re taking action tying our
executives’ pay to lowering the “carbon
intensity” of our operations. But lowering your
carbon intensity does not mean that you’re
lowering your carbon emissions. In fact, you can
lower the carbon intensity of your business’s
operation while still increasing your overall
carbon footprint. Tracy Wholf Well, to your point, Emily, it’s them being factually accurate, right? They’re not lying to us by using this type of language, right? Emily Atkin Right, they’re not technically lying, but they are actively misleading you. It’s a type of telling the truth that would hold up in court, but would not hold up in a human to human relationship, which is ironic given that they’re calling themselves the Human Energy Company. Is there anything else you want to say about this ad? Like how does this ad tie into the research that you did? Nayantara Dutta So this is a Chevron ad, but the same strategy was used at the same point in history by many other oil and gas majors to make them seem green, make them seem committed to change when in fact they were not doing anything from a business perspective to actually change their investment. Tracy Wholf And I’m curious, why was this, now, a strategy of the companies? Was it because Biden had come into office? Was it pressure from the EU? Why do you think this was a cohesive messaging strategy across the industry? Nayantara Dutta At that time in 2020 and 2021, when we were in the midst of COVID, a lot of companies were pressured into making net zero pledges and having something to say about sustainability. So for a company like Chevron, who has always been very invested in fossil fuels, instead of making a net zero pledge or actually making a tangible commitment to change, they used strategic language to mislead people into thinking things were changing without ever saying what that would look like. Emily Atkin I remember too, like, because I’ve been covering fossil fuel ads for a while, the 2020 to 2022 era was all about greenwashing. It was all about these buzzwords, lower carbon, carbon emissions, intensity, like these slick ways to make you think that these oil companies are friends to the planet when they’re actually not. Nayantara Dutta Yeah, if you think back to it, that’s in 2020, everyone was posting black squares on social media. Everyone wanted to indicate a commitment to a cause, but there wasn’t necessarily critical questioning about whether there was follow through. Emily Atkin Totally. All right, should we watch the next one? Tracy Wholf Yeah, so I was going say, this is a perfect segue. So we’re going to jump ahead to this next one. I think it’s from 2023. So this next ad we’re going to watch is actually Shell advertising. It’s a little bit longer. But this is going to, they posted this ad in November 2023. So again, putting us in the timeline. This is going to be the post-Russia invasion of Ukraine. And we saw that massive energy crisis as a result of that. So this is where we’re headed next. Give me one second. [AD DIALOGUE] Go, go, Bo-Bo. Engineering runs in my family. My father was an engineer. My brother’s an engineer. My three kids are engineers. Really something that we’re pretty proud of. I’ve been with Shell 35 years, all in the offshore oil and gas business here in the Gulf Coast of the United States. Off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico may seem like a distant place, but it’s actually a very big community of people from Texas to Alabama. And they’re out there 365 days a year working hard to bring stable energy to you. Relative to projects we’ve done before, we’ve shrunk down by about 70 % inside. Less steel, less cable, less space, less power. All of that reduces our impact on the environment, both the footprint here in the ocean and the emissions that it makes. If you think about these people that are working essentially 50 % of their life away from home. No sir. Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, they are out there. But we’re home enjoying lights and heat and all the things that oil and gas bring to our community. I’ve had the opportunity to apply everything I’ve the past 35 years and power people’s lives. Emily Atkin Wow, that was long. Nayantara Dutta That was a long one. Tracy Wholf Yeah, that’s definitely not an ad. I mean, that is a proper package. Nayantara Dutta Is that a case study? Emily Atkin That’s like a mini documentary, right? Okay, I feel like there was so much in there. First of all, it was 30% dogs, which I recognize they’re trying to manipulate me with how many dogs because I love dogs. Tracy Wholf Right at the top, too, right? Bobo came out right at the start. Emily Atkin Well, so the beginning to me is like, this is a good guy. He’s got two dogs and they look happy. How could this guy be bad? Tracy Wholf But you’re right Emily, it was all about family, dogs, he helped build the community playground, he gives back to his community. This is your neighbor, this is somebody that you want to live next to, right? That’s definitely the messaging. Emily Atkin Right, and it’s also got the efficiency thing, the environmental thing, we have the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world, another that one. There’s also this level of like, we’re supporting people, right, like the people that work here. And also a level of guilt, like these people are out here working while you get to sit home and have, cook your food and drive your car while they’re out here. So it was a lot. Tracy Wholf Or the sacrifice, the sacrifice that they’re making for us, right? Emily Atkin Nayantara, what did you see? Nayantara Dutta Yeah,
a big narrative theme in campaigns around this
time were how oil and gas companies are creating
jobs and in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine, when the focus was on energy
security, oil and gas majors leaned very heavily
into the benefits they were providing, both in
terms of ensuring national energy security, but
also giving back to local communities. Tracy Wholf Mm-hmm. That was the first thing I thought of actually. Emily Atkin Yeah, when they zoomed in on that platform, was like, that platform looks familiar to me. I feel like I’ve seen that one blown up. Does this ad fit into the broader trend of the time? Are we now moving a little bit away from environmental claims? Nayantara Dutta Yeah, I would say this ad reflects a bit more of the old guard rather than the new guard, but it actually shares both types of messaging because what we used to see is this family friendly, like nice guy, at this oil company who can personally attest that they’re doing good. That was the old guard, but the new guard that is slowly creeping in that they’ve seeded here is how they are helping communities and giving back by investing in oil and gas. So that is something that oil and gas companies started to incorporate in their language in 2022 and 2023 to really emphasize that oil and gas is a solution and is the way forward when previously they were pretending still to invest in renewables. Emily Atkin And it’s a form of paltering, right? This is a form of lying that I’ve covered in the newsletter that oil companies love to do. It’s where they’re technically telling you the truth in a really specific sense, but that truth intentionally obscures the larger picture. So yes, there is a truth to the fact that oil does power our homes. It does power our lives, right? And it does bring jobs and bring financial security, right? But that’s not the whole picture of offshore oil development in the Gulf. There are a ton of communities that are harmed by offshore oil development in the Gulf. Fishing communities. Cancer Alley is harmed by the refineries in the Gulf, right? We are being given a very specific picture here of benefits, where the actual picture is far more complicated. Nayantara Dutta Yeah, and this actually feeds into a narrative that emerges at the time, which is about how fossil fuels are an economic necessity. And so in order to justify continued dependence on oil and gas, a tactic that these companies used in 2023 and 2024 was showing us that for energy security, for our economy, for people’s jobs, we can’t step away from oil and gas. Tracy Wholf Okay,
well, the next ad I really want to share, I
thought it would be interesting to see one of
the most recent ads that Chevron has put out.
And so I had spent a little time looking through
their YouTube page. [AD DIALOGUE] America moves on big ideas. Every leap forward in our history has needed breakthrough energy. Now, AI is here. The next big leap. And Chevron is working to power it. We’re aiming to develop multi-gigawatt power plants near data centers. Designed with future pathways to lower carbon intensity. AI gets the power it needs. Communities get the jobs. And the grid stays strong. Because we need power and I today. We build America’s next superpower. Emily Atkin Did that lady have a robot hand? Tracy Wholf Yeah, I didn’t notice that the first time I watched it. I was a little weirded out by that. Emily Atkin Okay, can I just say, I thought that that was actually scary. You’re building on-site oil and gas plants to put next to the huge data centers to power the AI while everyone that lives around that data center and your power plant that I guess you’re building next door. So that they can make like a generative images of like a cat drinking a cup of coffee. Tracy Wholf Nayantara, what did you think? Because this wasn’t an ad that you probably would have reviewed. It was very recent. I’m curious what your take was on it. Nayantara Dutta Yeah,
this is the first time I’m seeing AI directly
brought into the narrative messaging of a fossil
fuel ad. So that was a new experience for me as
well. Emily Atkin There’s
also a, really big desire from the fossil fuel
company to be able to reframe itself as new,
exciting technology for the future—when
actually, oil and gas is old, dirty, expensive
technology that leads us into wars. Nayantara Dutta It also ties into a narrative that we found in our analysis from 2023 and 2024. Chevron specifically said, we are making fossil fuels cleaner. And again, this is very much along the theme of what we were talking about before with producing the carbon intensity. Chevron has been framing climate justice as a tech and innovation challenge. So instead of actually addressing the real impacts of fossil fuels, they’re talking about their new technologies as a technological advancement, or if we just get the right technology, we can still keep using fossil fuels but make them cleaner. Tracy Wholf That
was the last ad, but before we totally depart
from it, I want to bring up something here that
obviously this ad directly speaks to all of the
policy initiatives that Donald Trump has put in
place, wanting more data centers, wanting more
energy to power those data centers. Emily Atkin Yeah, so let’s do like a little summary then. Nayantara, how does those progression of ads tie into your research? Nayantara Dutta Yeah,
so, we fielded our research from 2020 to 2024,
and we have annual themes based on what we saw
across four oil majors. And
then the last theme was fossil fuel dependence.
So now there is no pretending anymore. It’s
really blatant. The manipulation is more obvious
than it ever has been before, where they’re
saying you can’t live without us. You need us.
We’re building new technology that’s powering
the future and we’re here to stay. Emily Atkin Well,
I hope that this segment and your report helps
people sort of ground themselves for the next
time they hear a fossil fuel ad, because like I
said at the top, they are totally everywhere. Nayantara Dutta So much of the news we consume is actually branded content from fossil fuel companies. In our research, we also publish the brand studios within large publishers who are working for oil and gas. New York Times, T Brand Studio, Washington Post, The Economist, all of the major places where you get your news are also not exempt from this fossil fuel influence. Apart from Heated. Emily Atkin And now, I was gonna say, and now is where we put an ad for us where we say that we don’t take any fossil fuel ads, right? Oh my God. Actually, this whole thing has been an ad for us! Gotcha! Tracy Wholf Good.
Do you mind if I ask one question before we
totally wrap? Because a couple years ago, the
secretary general, I want to bring this up. Nayantara Dutta Yes,
good point. There is a great resource, which is
a website called World Without Fossil Ads, which
tells you more about the specific legislation
that’s passing or is currently under process. We
are seeing vast improvements over the past
couple of years. Emily Atkin Nayantara Dutta is the head of research at Clean Creatives and the lead author of this new report analyzing fossil fuel advertising. Nayantara, thank you so much for joining us Nayantara Dutta Thank you. You're currently a free subscriber to HEATED. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
©
2026 Emily Atkin
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