Climate activists once again gathered outside Havas’ London headquarters to protest against the agency’s relationship with fossil fuel giant Shell.
The international agency won the controversial account in September 2023, following a three-month review of the oil company’s business, taking over from WPP-owned Group M, with some UK staff disgruntled according to Extinction Rebellion.
The protest, which took place yesterday (25 January), follows on from a string of action from purpose-led agencies and collectives including Clean Creatives, as well as Extinction Rebellion.
B Lab, the non profit network which certifies agencies across sustainability and other ethics criteria, said it would launch a formal review into the status of four of Havas’ outposts as BCorps, over the wider agency’s links with Shell.
The climate-focused publication DeSmog also shared an investigation earlier this week which shed light on statements from Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré last summer which said that he “cared” about the climate especially given the responsibility of running “a communications group as big as Havas”.
XR returned to HAVAS this morning, taking them to task for #greenwashing for Shell. @havas face losing their B Corp accreditation because of their association with Shell – much to the anger and disquiet of many of their employees @cleancreatives#greenwashing #rebelfortruth pic.twitter.com/uuRJ8dqjwg
— Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 (@XRLondon) January 25, 2024
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for FREE
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
Extinction Rebellion campaigner Ben Mango, who attended the protest, told Marketing Beat that although outright whistleblowing can be hard he would like to see people who work in advertising “explaining their dissatisfaction and letting their bosses know they are not happy” with the clients chosen by their agencies.
He added that creatives within agencies can always get involved in “direct action themselves”.
On Yannick Bolloré’s comment that climate change was among his major concerns, Mango said: “It’s clear that anyone who works with Shell is only concerned about profit and not about people”.
He also called upon the agency to put a policy in place to ensure that its clients were ethically sound, and supportive of sustainability.
Marketing Beat has contacted Havas for comment.
Image credit: Extinction Rebellion
