Patagonia joins the pro-climate Gen Z GOTV digital ad push
Plus, a look at Halloween-themed anti-Big Oil ads in New Mexico
Welcome to Climate Monitor, a weekly digest of the digital tactics and strategies polluters and climate-action groups use to shift public opinion and move legislation. We’ve examined political ad spending on social media platforms, as well as what’s trending on social media. Tell your colleagues to subscribe here!
TL;DR:
While most climate groups scaled back their digital ad campaigns last week, Action for the Climate Emergency more than tripled its spending to get young Floridians registered to vote, and they’re also now up in NV and MN.
NextGen PAC, Climate Power, and Climate Power Action are also running new digital GOTV ads targeting young adults, and Conservation Voters of Michigan is using YouTube ads to support Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with young voters.
Patagonia spent $12k last week on Snap ads targeting Gen Z voters in AZ, GA, NV, and PA.
The American Exploration & Production Council ran a small campaign targeting Washington DC claiming that crude oil exports saved Americans as much as $92 billion over six years.
ProgressNow New Mexico is running Meta ads portraying Big Oil as a greedy adult literally stealing kids’ Halloween candy.
Right-wing antagonism toward electric vehicles remains pervasive on social media, with many pages boosting stories about corroding batteries in waterlogged EVs following Hurricane Ian.
National Digital Ad Spending on Climate
Facebook + Instagram
First, here are the top 25 spenders nationwide on climate and energy-related ads on Meta platforms from last week:
Last week, Action for the Climate Emergency more than tripled its spending on Meta ads in one final push to get young people registered to vote in Florida before the October 11 deadline, and they’ve also started running similar ads in Nevada and Minnesota. Also rolling out new youth-focused digital GOTV ads last week was NextGen PAC, which is running positive “Let’s win again!” spots in PA, AZ, NV, and WI, and Climate Power Action, which is taking the opposite tactic of highlighting how MAGA Republicans would repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. The latter group is targeting young voters in CO, CT, MI, PA, and GA. Climate Power itself has also started running boosted news ads in both English and Spanish targeting AZ, NV, and MN promoting the clean energy benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act on top of their ongoing pro-IRA video ads from last month.
Outside of that handful of groups, most other pro-climate groups decreased their Meta political ad spending from the previous week. Still, there were a couple of organizations that launched relatively small but notable campaigns on the platform. Among these is Sierra Club, which is targeting young adults with ads that promote Common Cause’s grassroots poll monitor volunteer program. We should also be clear that pro-climate groups are just running digital ad campaigns about the midterms: EnergyBoom is running boosted news ads in Georgia and North Carolina highlighting the effects of climate change in those states, as well as promoting an offshore wind energy project in New Jersey. Finally, sustainable household goods company Seventh Generation is running its first political digital ad campaign since March to call on the Biden administration to do more to act on climate change.
Among fossil fuel groups, political ad spending on Meta platforms last week held relatively steady compared to the previous week. The biggest changes came from ExxonMobil, which has now spent over $100k on its lead generation campaign about “advanced recycling” targeting seniors with environmentalist interests. We also found that American Exploration & Production Council ran a small campaign targeting young adults in DC, claiming that U.S. crude oil exports saved Americans “$92 billion,” pointing to a press release from themselves and API.
Google + YouTube
Climate Power Action has also launched its anti-GOP ads on YouTube, targeting similarly young audiences in key states. But the biggest new YouTube ad campaign from a pro-climate group actually came from Conservation Voters of Michigan, which has started running an ad highlighting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s efforts to protect the Mitten State’s water from pollution. The ad exclusively targets voters aged 18 - 34 but excludes MI-07 and MI-08. Check it out:
Overall, here’s how spending on climate- and energy-related ad spending on Google + YouTube last week breaks down:
Snapchat
Patagonia has now joined the growing movement of pro-climate groups running digital ads urging young people to vote. The now-not-for-profit organization has spent over $12k on Snap ads targeting voters 25 and under in AZ, GA, NV, and PA to remind them that with their vote, they can “pass laws, flip states, demand the world you want.” Check out the 15-second spot here. >>>
Overall, here’s how much has been spent on climate, clean energy, and conservation ads on Snap so far this year:
Climate & Energy Ads in the 2022 Elections
We identified quite a few new digital ad campaigns about climate change and energy from battleground midterm campaigns across the country.
MI-08: Republican Paul Junge is echoing Big Oil talking points: “I will work to increase American energy production and lower the price we are paying at the pump.”
NM-02: Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell is attacking her Democratic opponent in a new ad: “The more we learn about extremist Gabe Vasquez, the worse it gets! His radical positions - like ending New Mexico’s oil and gas industry - are dangerous and out of touch.”
OH-SEN: Tim Ryan is promoting a clip from his recent debate with JD Vance: “We have to rebuild the great American middle class…that’s why we went all-in on electric vehicles…we’re manufacturing the jobs of the future. Solar panels in Toledo, natural gas in the southeast.”
OR-04: Democrat Val Hoyle launched a new ad criticizing her GOP opponent: “He won’t even admit that human-caused climate change exists. Alek Skarlatos is a clear and present danger to our lives and our communities.”
OR-04: Republican Alek Skarlatos launched a straight-to-camera ad criticizing climate advocates more broadly: “The climate warriors are HYPOCRITES. It's time for common sense leadership. I will fight to keep our environment strong without destroying our economy.”
OR-Gov: Democrat Tina Kotek launched a new fundraising campaign criticizing her opponents: “They would take us backward on climate change, gun violence prevention, access to health care and so much more. We can't reverse course on so many important issues, not in Oregon.”
Reaching Frontline Communities
ProgressNow New Mexico has been on a roll with some rather kitschy digital ad campaigns. Earlier this month, they launched a campaign highlighting how much Big Oil pollutes New Mexico’s lands while also highlighting how their lobbyists are working the state’s legislature to keep it that way. Now, just in time for Halloween, they’re also portraying Big Oil as an adult who hoards all the kids’ candy in a “TRICK OR TRUTH” campaign. All of these ads primarily target Millennials in the state and point to CrudeIntentionsNM.com.
What’s trending organically?
Last week, the top Facebook post mentioning climate change, energy, or related terms came from Heather Cox Richardson, who discussed OPEC’s announcement to cut oil production starting in November. Sen. Bernie Sanders also got a fair amount of engagement for denouncing the move across a couple of Facebook posts. One right-wing account, Rep. Jim Jordan, made a relatively highly engaged post about the news to call for more domestic drilling, but Jordan didn’t get nearly as much engagement as Sanders.
The most engaged post from such right-wing climate-skeptic pages came from PragerU, which simply posted, “Renewable energy sounds great until the lights don't turn on.” Otherwise, these pages were still largely preoccupied with trashing electric vehicles. Western Journal posted a misleading story about how long it takes to charge EVs, even though the case in question was a new electric Ford F-150 at a remote campground. Sen. Tom Cotton echoed the misleading argument that “electric vehicles are coal powered vehicles.” Finally, Breitbart amplified a story about electric vehicles in Florida self-combusting after floodwater corroded the batteries.
Overall, here’s a breakdown of last week’s most engaged posts mentioning climate, clean energy, conservation, and related terms:
On Instagram, the top post came from Leonardo DiCaprio, who called back to the successful Montreal Protocol to call for climate action on a similar level. Other than that, there were very few highly engaged Instagram posts from pro-climate pages. Our search picked up a couple of typically troll-y posts from Donald Trump Jr., who decided to pick on climate activists and President Joe Biden over the OPEC news last week. We also found that Fox News picked up the same story as Breitbart about electric vehicles corroding in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and Rep. Dan Crenshaw once again found a way to tie together transphobia and climate denialism. Finally, for those following ESG news, we’ll note that Breitbart got nearly 29k interactions on a post lauding Louisiana for divesting from BlackRock over its ESG stances.
Overall, here’s how the most engaged content last week on Instagram mentioning climate, energy, and related terms breaks down:
That’s it for Climate Monitor this week. As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to drop us a line by shooting an email to nick@fwiwmedia.com.