New research from campaign group Clean Creatives and climate-focused publication De Smog reveals that half of the board members at the world’s six largest advertising and PR companies are linked with polluting sectors.
According to De Smog, 32 out of 64 board members at Omnicom Group, WPP, Interpublic Group, Publicis Groupe, Dentsu and Havas have roles in sectors including fossil fuels, fossil fuel financing, plastics, utilities and aviation.
In addition, 22 are still serving in roles at companies which cause climate damage according to De Smog.
De Smog and Clean Creatives also point out that the companies are part of Ad Net Zero.
It follows on from a report by campaign group Planet Tracker slammed advertising companies including Dentsu, Havas, IPG, Omnicom Group, Publicis and WPP for their lack of ESG commitment.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest agency-related news sent straight to your inbox each morning
It highlighted that the top ten of the shareholders for each of the holding companies includes major investment firms, for example the shareholder with the largest greenhouse gas footprint is BlackRock according to the analysis.
It follows on from protests outside Havas around the firm’s decision to take on a contract with fossil fuel giant Shell, with Extinction Rebellion reporting that some Havas London staff were disgruntled about the wider decision.
In addition, Clean Creatives has successfully managed to get B Lab to launch a formal review into the agency’s links with the fossil fuel industry, including a review of its B Corp status.
Further action has also been taken at the headquarters of IPG-owned McCann by Extinction Rebellion, in which activists wore grinning masks of the agency’s worldwide CEO Daryl Lee and welcomed audiences with “petrodollars” and leaflets, after the agency continued its links with Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm Aramco.
