Should it believe its own hype? From ‘engineers of demand’ to agents of positive change - reality or advertisers’ new pipe dream?
Photo credit: Shiny Things, Advertising. Original image.
Purpose Disruptors is a collective of professionals from the creative industries with a mission: turn advertising into a force for the greater good in times of ecological and societal crisis. Since its creation, the organisation has produced various reports, hosted events and conferences to bring about change from within. Their latest research “Advertised emissions: the carbon emissions generated by UK advertising” was released during the COP26 climate summit with its own launch event in Glasgow. Its main purpose is to wake the industry up to the consequences of its highly damaging business model - as “engineers of demand” - and instead harness the sector’s creativity towards the promotion of positive behaviour change and low-carbon lifestyles.
Advertised emissions: an uncomfortable truth
The rationale for this new research was clear. Until then, the advertising industry, unlike other sectors of the economy, did not have a metric to quantify the carbon emissions associated with its own activities. Transparency has never been a big feature of ad agencies. Basic reporting measures like client disclosures, which shine light on who these agencies are taking their money from, were not introduced until socially-driven marketing agency Futerra initiated the practice back in 2015.
The research comes as the industry is being compelled to grapple with its climate problem. Various initiatives - such as the Advertising Association flagship AdNetZero, AdGreen and the Media Carbon calculator - aim to show that the industry is taking matters into its own hands. But dig deeper, and it quickly becomes clear that an agency could be working with major polluters like Shell or BP and still get a green badge, because all these schemes only tackle the ad industries’ operational emissions (ie. the running of the ad agencies themselves) not the emissions associated with the extra stuff they sell as a result of their core function.
“By creating demand for these products, the advertising industry shares responsibility for these emissions.”
And it is precisely these figures that account for the sector’s largest share of carbon emissions. According to Purpose Disruptors’ research, in 2019 emissions that result from UK advertising were more than 186 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. This amounts to about 40% of the UK’s total domestically produced emissions for the same year and the running of 47 coal-fired power plants for 1 year. In comparison, operational emissions barely scratch the surface.
Source: Advertised Emissions, Purpose Disruptors (2021)
These figures should act as a wake-up call for ad agencies who can no longer ignore the activities of the clients they are working with if they are to showcase themselves as “climate conscious”. Without doing so, flagship schemes like AdNetZero will merely add to the deluge of greenwash and have the opposite effect on the industry’s image than the one they are hoping for.
“Emissions incurred throughout the global supply chain have to be included. Advertising exists to help a client business sell more than it otherwise would have. That means it prompts client businesses and their suppliers to make more things than they otherwise would have. The additional emissions associated with growing, mining, drilling, processing, manufacturing and shipping the extra products that advertising helps sell.”
What role for the ad industry?
Purpose Disruptors’ research proposes three main routes to lead the industry on a sustainable path:
Reduce spend on “red brands” (ie. fossil fuel companies)
Help “amber brands” to transition towards low-carbon alternatives (ie. carmakers to sell EVs)
Increase spend on “green brands” (ie. sustainable innovators)
Source: Advertised Emissions, Purpose Disruptors (2021)
This vision for the advertising sector’s transition to a sustainable business model relies on the sector's ability to create transformational shifts within high-carbon industries. But, evidence shows that the most polluting industries, such as fossil fuel companies and airlines, have already been quick to promote themselves as ‘green’ whilst leaving their own core, polluting business models untouched. The problem is that advertising is in a position to manage the perception of polluting industries, but it is not in the decision chain to change their actual activities. Regardless, how would advertisers discern genuine alternatives from mere greenwashing stunts, and how would they define what counts as a truly sustainable alternative?
“As the engineers of demand, advertising can fast-forward the adoption of goods, services, behaviours and attitudes which are consistent with a profitable and progressive transition to a Net Zero economy.”
The carrot and the stick
The advertising industry is a multi-billion dollar sector with a considerable economic impact with disastrous consequences for the planet (the Advertising Association’s research suggests that £1 spent on advertising generates around £6 worth of economic activity, although other assessments of the return on advertising spending produce lower ratios of between £2 and £4 for every £1 spent). While it bears huge responsibility in hindering a just and rapid transition to a low-carbon society, it also mainly acts as a mirror of how our societies are organised - around fossil-based consumption-driven economies. Shifting to a zero carbon economy thus requires unprecedented shifts in both production and consumption activities, some of which will need to be phased out. Obviously, the advertising sector alone cannot drive that change forward without there also being any controls placed on those harmful activities and their promotion by fossil-based companies. In this case, to be coherent, the industry should be adding its voice to point out which goods and services are passed their climate sell-by date and whose consumption needs to end.
Our latest research provides new statistical evidence that messaging about low-carbon transport alternatives had no impact on people’s transport choices as these were in effect drowned out by adverts for gas-guzzling SUVs. An earlier study came to a similar conclusion whereby German’s consumption for electronics, fashion, and leisure airline flights was found to have no correlation with eco-friendly messaging. These findings suggest that strict controls on harmful advertising activities need to be a priority in the transition to a low-carbon lifestyle society.
Source: Advertised Emissions, Purpose Disruptors (2021)
Conscientious advertisers should be wary of adopting similar practices of carbon reporting and disclosure schemes as those adopted by big corporations, since the UN’s work on guidelines for ‘ESG’ (environmental, social and governance considerations), given the poor results these have had. The practice of fossil fuel divestment on the other hand has undoubtedly sent a clear signal to the market, with so far about $39.88 trillion worth of fossil assets divested by 1,500 organisations worldwide.
As Futerra’s founder says, “creativity isn’t neutral”. Indeed, in today’s mass consumerism and debt-driven societies, creatives’ skills are essentially harnessed towards making us buy more stuff and enrich the companies who make those products. Purpose Disruptors’ desire for a world where advertisers’ creativity is geared towards a sustainable, post-consumer society is a far cry from the present economic model. And, for it to work, it needs to disengage from the drivers of pollution and over-consumption and call out what is incompatible. By sketching out what a changed industry could look like, Purpose Disruptors are helping to start a conversation, but it can’t ignore some of the logical consequences that discussion will come to.
Concrete steps in that direction should include taking pledges to stop promoting fossil-based products and activities including fossil fuels, aviation and fossil fuel-powered vehicles. By outing industries promoting fossil fuels, creative agencies like Comms Declare and Clean Creatives have signalled a shift is taking place within the sector. This should now go as far as including all industries who are, both directly and indirectly, active in the market of fossil fuels.
Like those institutions who have divested from fossil fuels, screening out the biggest polluters from their clients’ portfolios, if advertisers were to take similar steps it could make advertising’s greatest impact on shaping a post-consumerist, low-carbon, high well-being world.