A team of Extinction Rebellion activists have infiltrated the London HQ of McCann Worldgroup, in protest at the company’s link with oil firm Saudi Aramco.
In November last year McCann announced that they were repitching for the account with Saudi Aramco, despite the firm’s polluting reputation.
The activists yesterday (29 February) gained access to the building where they unfurled banners reading “McCann Say No to Aramco” and “Ditch the Pitch”, calling upon agency staff to rebel against their bosses decision to repitch for the account.
Sporting grinning masks of the agency’s worldwide CEO Daryl Lee, the XR team occupied the lobby as employees arrived for work, welcomed them with fistfuls of “petrodollars”, and distributed leaflets calling upon McCann to say ‘no’ to more work with Aramco.
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XR activist and London-based therapist, Alexandra Considine, 55 said: “McCann trades on their founding motto of ‘Truth Well Told’. But where’s the truth when it comes to working for climate-wrecking Saudi Aramco? The truth is that the agency’s bosses are happy to take Big Oil’s dirty money to greenwash Aramco’s business.”
“And that business is speeding up the climate and nature emergency. We desperately need McCann’s people to stand up for what they know is right and say they don’t want to work on the Saudi Aramco account.”
It is not the first time that Extinction Rebellion have hit out at the advertising industry, with activists protesting outside Havas’ London HQ about the worldwide groups links with fossil fuel giant Shell.
A recent report from NGO Planet Tracker highlighted the links between global holding companies and fossil fuels, with leading agencies worldwide having connections with the sector and other polluting companies.
Clean Creatives has put pressure on Havas and demanded that it be stripped of its B Corp status, with a full investigation by B Lab now under way.
