Digital ad spending data for the week of September 19 - 25
Top spenders last week include Climate Pledge, Exxon, American Chemistry Council, GND Network, Wilderness Society
Both climate groups and fossil fuel advocates increased their spending on Facebook and Google ads for or against federal action on climate change, especially from the Wilderness Society, Climate Reality, and the American Chemistry Council.
Facebook + Instagram
Before we dig into it, here are the top 25 spenders on climate and energy-related ads on Facebook from last week:
While some of the biggest climate and conservation groups, such as the League of Conservation Voters and the NRDC Action Fund, have regularly been spending upwards of $100,000 a week on Facebook ads for the past couple of months, more are joining them in using the platform to push for climate action and environmental protection at the federal level. The Wilderness Society and The Wilderness Society Action Fund, for example, spent a combined $167,351 on the platform last week, mostly advocating for Congress to act on climate change and for President Joe Biden to expand protections of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Bears Ears National Monument.
The Green New Deal Network has also recently made a significant increase in their Facebook ad spending recently. They’re targeting ads at constituencies across the country to pressure lawmakers - from Rep. Madison Cawthorn to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - to pass the “$3.5 trillion Build Back Better deal” by laying out the benefits the package would provide to the representatives’ states. One ad reads:
Tell Rep. Cawthorn to stop the obstruction now and support the full Build Back Better deal to:
✅ Creating 178,000 family-sustaining jobs in North Carolina
✅ Funding vital public transit infrastructure
✅ Updating our schools, public buildings, and housing for disaster resiliency
✅ Investing in a clean, renewable, and reliable energy grid
✅ Strengthening the care economy to support families, children, and seniors
Among the climate groups that have launched brand new campaigns in recent weeks is Climate Reality Action Fund, which is now running ads targeting Georgia, Pennsylvania, and the DMV area. They appear to mostly be pressuring Reps. Lucy McBath, Carolyn Bordeaux, Matt Cartwright, with ads supporting the Build Back Better Act, arguing that it “will create good-paying, clean energy jobs we need to put Pennsylvania back to work,” for example. They spent $46,964 on these ads last week. Meanwhile, Minnesota group The 100% Campaign has started running Facebook ads pressuring Rep. Jim Hagedorn, spending $9,975 last week urging him to “fight for the people, not the corporate elite” and “#SealtheDeal” by voting for Biden’s economic agenda. Lastly, but somewhat unrelatedly, it appears that household goods brand Seventh Generation spent $19,210 on Facebook ads last week pressuring Biden to stop Line 3.
We’re also seeing polluters and fossil fuel advocates increase their spending on Facebook political ads, especially the American Chemistry Council under their page called “America’s Plastic Makers.” The previous week, they spent $10,674, but last week their spending jumped to $157,119 by pushing out dozens of ads arguing against taxes on single-use plastics. Meanwhile, PragerU promoted content that sought to undermine climate science by “parodying the mainstream climate narrative and its ever-changing fear-mongering predictions.”
Overall, here’s how much climate groups, polluters, and other pages spent on Facebook ads last week.
Additionally, here’s how much major groups have spent week-to-week on Facebook ads related to climate, conservation, and energy
Google and YouTube
On top of using Facebook ads to target a handful of Democratic lawmakers from Georgia and Pennsylvania, it appears that Climate Reality Action Fund is also running their video ads on YouTube with some localized geotargeting. We also found that the Nature Conservancy is now running banner ads targeting lawmakers in Ohio, Nebraska, Maine, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and New Hampshire, urging (or thanking) them to support the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Snapchat
Climate groups didn’t start any new campaigns on Snapchat last week, with the exception of Patagonia spending a couple hundred more dollars on the platform advocating for the protection of Baxter State Park & Katahdin National Monument in Maine and the Skagit Headwaters in Washington.
Overall, here are the top 10 spenders on climate ads on Snapchat so far this year: