Digital ad spending data for the week of May 30th to June 5th
New ads from LCV, BP, and a Chamber-affiliated group
Here are the top 25 spenders on climate-related Facebook ads last week.
Starting this week, we’re going to explore new ways to present Facebook ad spending data by these groups. We looked at all the spending on the platform by all the top pages running ads since Facebook lifted its political ad ban in early March, and found that climate groups have spent about $1 million more than polluters on Facebook ads this year.
Far and away the biggest spender on Facebook ads last week was the League of Conservation voters, which has launched a huge digital ad campaign to push lawmakers to pass the American Jobs Plan. You can read more about their recent Facebook spending here, and it looks like they've spent $5,000 on a pair of YouTube ads targeting New Hampshire thanking Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan for supporting the AJP. Check it out:
More than a decade after the Deepwater Horizon spill, BP is now running Facebook ads targeting Connecticut and North Carolina that support a Transportation & Climate Initiative Program (or TCI-P) in those states. Specifically, they’re backing SB 884 in CT, a bill supported by Gov. Ned Lamont that would create a cap-and-invest program focused on transportation emissions.
In their Facebook ads, BP, in partnership with Ford and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, they argue that the TCI-P would “fund clean transportation – and create jobs that go with it. Like building out EV charging and broadband for remote work.👷♂🚊🔌”
Another group that’s started running Facebook ads recently is the Maine Affordable Energy Coalition, an opaque group that’s actually a project of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. The Maine Chamber, as well as the state’s two major electric utility companies, are opposing LD 1708, which would allow the state government to buy out the two companies and create a consumer-owned nonprofit utility.
MAEC’s Facebook ads present two arguments: first, that the plan is a “blank check” for a “government takeover of the state’s electric grid”, and second, that such a takeover would “derail” Maine’s clean energy goals. Every ad in their campaign directs users to this landing page.
When it comes to Google ad spending, the only significant spending from climate groups that was included in the Transparency Report last week was from LCV, the NRDC Action Fund, and Clean Virginia. Here’s how their spending stacks up:
We’ve touched on the LCV ads above, and it looks like the NRDC Action Fund is continuing their pro-AJP plan from last month. Meanwhile, Clean Virginia spent $18,200 last week on YouTube and banner ads against Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate Hala Ayala, pillorying her for taking campaign contributions from Dominion Energy in that state’s elections.
Finally, the only new Snapchat political ad spending among climate groups has come from MN 350, which is ramping up their campaign on the platform against Line 3.
Here’s how much climate and energy advertisers have spent on Snapchat advertising so far this year: