Critics have long attacked the oil industry for ad campaigns that they call “greenwashing” – telling people that policies or products are more environmentally friendly than they really are. But the ad agencies behind the campaigns have largely escaped scrutiny.
That’s changing, as the issue of climate change shoots up the global agenda. Climate activists and some ad industry figures are calling on agencies to declare or dump their Big Oil clients. Recent lawsuits by four U.S. states, the District of Columbia and a city allege “greenwashing” by oil companies, accusing them of making “misleading and deceptive” claims. The suits don’t name the ad agencies as defendants, but do single out at least 15 campaigns.
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