A major British advertising company is facing renewed scrutiny after new analysis found it helped some of the world's biggest oil companies push nearly $1 billion worth of ads in the United States since the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
According to analysis by the climate investigations platform DeSmog, as described by the Guardian, WPP was the top ad holding company working for the U.S. oil sector over the last decade. Critics say that matters because those campaigns helped polish the public image of oil giants even as their core business plans remained tied to expanding oil and gas production.
DeSmog estimated that the four companies together bought about $1.5 billion in U.S. ad space across outlets such as TV and social media after the Paris Agreement. The outlet found that agencies within WPP produced about two-thirds of that advertising, and that no other major ad company worked with all four oil firms in that stretch.
Current and former WPP employees told DeSmog that the company's services went far beyond simply placing ads. They said, as the Guardian put it, that WPP agencies handled things like campaign concepts, branding, media buys, and audience analysis — work they viewed as central to protecting the oil industry's public image.
According to DeSmog, that work probably brought WPP millions of dollars annually.
That finding sits awkwardly alongside WPP's 2022 policy, which said it would refuse work that could undermine the Paris Agreement's goals. Several employees told DeSmog that continuing work for Shell, BP, and Chevron may run against that pledge, particularly because those companies still support oil and gas expansion while marketing climate-friendly messages.
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Some of the ads have already drawn criticism.
A 2022 congressional committee report cited ExxonMobil ads from WPP's Group SJR as examples of greenwashing. BP and Chevron campaigns from WPP agencies also faced complaints over messaging that critics argued was misleading.
When major polluters spend heavily on image management, it can muddy public understanding of who is driving climate change and delay support for policies that would actually reduce pollution. That means more of the real-world costs — hotter temperatures, stronger storms, dirtier air, and rising insurance and energy pressures — can keep getting pushed onto households instead of the companies causing the damage.
According to the Guardian, Dr. Victoria Harvey, an expert in the U.K. advertising production sector who reviewed DeSmog's methodology, said, "The U.K. prides itself on climate leadership and yet WPP, the supposed jewel of the British advertising industry, is facilitating dangerously misleading advertising in the U.S. By creatively articulating the deception from big oil and gas, WPP has set the climate agenda back and continues to do so."
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