Across the United States this week, the climate disasters fueled by Big Oil will be displayed on billboards in California, New York, Arizona, and Philadelphia.
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The bold campaign, launched by non-profit organization Fossil Free Media, calls out the decades of misinformation spread by oil and gas companies as they sowed doubt about the environmental dangers of burning fossil fuels while greenwashing their public image.
The Make Polluters Pay campaign captures the devastating impacts of the climate crisis specific to each state: Images depicting the Paradise fire in California, extreme heatwaves in Arizona, and wreckage left behind by widespread flooding triggered by Hurricane Ida in New York are contrasted with the phrases “Brought to you by Big Oil” and “Superstorms: Sponsored by Big Oil.”
According to Cassidy DiPaola, the communications director for the Make Polluters Pay campaign, the group faced push back when trying to place billboards in Houston, Texas. “Billboard owners there weren’t willing to work with us, citing concerns about upsetting their oil and gas industry clients,” said DiPaola, adding that the owners even asked if the message could be made “more positive” and avoid using the term “Big Oil.”
“It’s hard to imagine how you can make homes burning down and people dying from extreme heat into something positive,” continued DiPaola. “This pushback shows just how powerful the fossil fuel industry’s influence is and the fear they instill, even in the advertising world.”
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In partnership with the Sunrise Movement, and in collaboration with filmmaker Adam McKay’s Yellow Dot Studios and Climate Power, the campaign plans to put up billboards in Florida and Louisiana in September. “There is so much disinformation from Big Oil about extreme weather change and causes from fossil fuel pollution. Oil companies could take action but they like money. A lot. Unfortunately for them, we like the planet,” said Staci Roberts-Steele, Yellow Dot Studios’ managing director and executive producer. Last month, the studio hit back at ExxonMobil ‘s CEO Darren Woods — who had blamed the public for failing to solve the climate crisis — in a spoof video in response to the CEO’s supreme gaslighting.
The continued work of the Make Polluters Pay campaign aims to hold Big Oil accountable for the costs of climate change, and as climate liability lawsuits have gained momentum across the country. In May, Vermont lawmakers passed a trailblazing state law, the Climate Superfund Act, that will require oil and gas companies to pay for the costs of climate change. Residents in New York have demanded Gov. Kathy Hochul sign similar legislation, while California has weighed a similar policy. And in June, a lawsuit from the city of Boulder and Boulder County advanced towards a trial that will decide if ExxonMobil and Suncor should pay the costs of climate-related disasters in the state — joining the growing movement of similar suits by state and local governments across the country.
“Oil and gas companies are desperate. They see their public support imploding. They see a growing list of local and state governments suing them for climate change,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement. “Whether it’s billboards or protests or TikToks, there is mounting pressure for politicians to take on Big Oil and fight for our generation to have a livable planet.”
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