Ogilvy directed ADWEEK to an excerpt from WPP’s sustainability report, which includes guidelines for working with energy clients: “We believe it is essential that the communications of energy companies are truthful, fair and accurate. We require that rigorous standards are applied to all content we produce for our energy clients, as we do for all clients, and seek to fairly represent their actions and commitments at all times. Our policy is not to take on any client work, including lobbying, designed to frustrate the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”
Activism begets activism
Oli Frost, climate-focused creator and co-founder of Serious People, came up with the idea for the campaign after reading activist group Clean Creatives’ 2024 F-List.
“We’ve seen people use the F-List in all kinds of ways—as a screen in procurement, an informational tool for students, and more—but Ogilvyland is probably my favorite so far,” Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, told ADWEEK. “Sometimes you just need to laugh at the absurdity of working for so many polluters while the world is overheating.”
The annual F-List uses publicly available documents to expose advertising and public relations agencies’ relationships with fossil fuel companies. The goal is to highlight the impact that ad agencies have on the climate crisis through their clients, and then pressure those agencies to drop polluters.
According to Clean Creatives, Ogilvy had 15 fossil fuel contracts in 2023 and 2024, tied for the most with McCann Worldgroup.
A spokesperson for Ogilvy clarified that seven of those contracts are serviced by OGR, formerly Ogilvy Government Relations, which split from Ogilvy in 2011. OGR is still owned by WPP, but operates within the holding company’s specialist communications division.