“The question for the PR and ad business is whether this emboldened coalition of academics and advocates can turn fossil fuel companies into social pariahs — a sort of New Tobacco.”
“PR and ad firms are part of a web of influence, including law firms, lobbying organizations and think tanks,” said Christine Arena, who worked briefly for Edelman and later founded a small business called Generous Films. “They are all charged with maintaining the fossil fuel industry’s ability to operate.”
Edelman is following its own PR strategy, continues The Post, when “it concluded a two-month study of its climate principles and scrutinized more than 330 of its 2,000 clients, including conducting “a deep dive” on 20 whose emissions are particularly large. That group includes ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), according to the Clean Creatives activist campaign. So far, however, Edelman has not severed ties with any clients.”