Recommendations

This research faced limitations due to the lack of transparency from social media platforms. It is vital that these platforms, which wield significant power over the political landscape, are transparent on how their platforms are being used to influence the debate on climate change. This will allow for greater accountability for the platforms themselves and the organizations that use them. This research can be used to push these social media giants to be more transparent about the advertising on climate change which they allow on their platforms.

The Prominence of Narratives in Oil & Gas Sector Advertising

The oil and gas sector is using a range of narratives to promote itself as part of the solution on climate change and promote the ongoing use of oil and gas in the energy mix. A breakdown of the different messaging categories and their frequency can be found below

Distribution of Ads over Time

The research also shows the industry is using social media strategically and deploying its ads at key political moments. Tracking the timeline of the ads covered in this research shows a jump in ad spend the day after now President Biden announced his $2 trillion climate plan. This momentum was sustained until the US Presidential Election when Facebook then banned political advertising.

Daily spend on Facebook ads in the US, from all fossil fuel groups analyzed (7-day rolling average)

Mixed Messaging

This research found different entities fulfil different messaging roles. Companies, and ExxonMobil in particular, are focusing on ‘Pragmatic Energy Mix’ narratives, the American Petroleum Institute is posting thousands of ads on the climate-friendliness of the industry and the role of fossil gas as a climate solution, while advocacy groups are successfully using ‘Community Economy’ arguments to lobbying against specific regulatory measures.

Corporations ($6M)

Industry associations ($3M)

Advocacy groups ($813K)

Demographic Distribution

Looking at how these ads are distributed amongst the US population it is clear more males than females overall are being shown these ads. There were, however, notable differences amongst the categories of messaging. ‘Climate Solutions’ narratives were the only category of messaging shown to more females than males, while ‘Pragmatic Energy Mix’ narratives are shown more to older age groups.

Impressions by age and gender demographic

Regional Distribution of Oil and Gas Sector Advertising

In line with the strategic deployment of ads, the geographic distribution of the ads shows that the ads most targeted states with high levels of oil and gas production, such as Texas and New Mexico, and swing states, including Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Ohio. States with specific policy battles affecting the oil and gas sector in 2020, such as Alaska, also sustained significant advertising campaigns.

Top 15 states by ad impressions

The Advertisers

InfluenceMap used data from 25 advertisers, covering the 10 companies and 5 industry associations from the oil and gas sector with the highest spend on social issues, electoral, and political ads in 2020 on Facebook's US platform. The research also included 10 advocacy groups, all with a spend of over $5000 in 2020, that have reported ties to oil and gas companies and industry associations.