17 Jan, 2022

We’ve signed the Clean Creatives pledge

When this was published, we were Blue Stag. Today we’re Everglow ✨ Read the rebrand story

Pledging for a cleaner future

Here at Blue Stag, we care about doing work that matters. Work that makes the world a happier, healthier and fairer place.

As part of our commitment to these values, we’ve signed the Clean Creatives pledge – to reject future contracts with fossil fuel companies.

We’re working hard to make a positive social and environmental impact, and recognise that the clients we choose to work with are a huge part of that. We are so lucky to work with some amazing charities and environmentally focused organisations – we don’t want to undermine that work and muddy the waters (quite literally) by working with fossil fuel companies.

What is the Clean Creatives project?

The Clean Creatives project is bringing together members of the creative industry and their clients who want a safe climate future, and recognise the damage the fossil fuel industry is doing to the environment.

Creatives and firms are invited to make a pledge to become ‘Clean Creatives’. This means committing to a future that doesn’t include promoting pollution and declining any future contracts with the fossil fuel industry.

This is a huge corporate social responsibility challenge for the advertising and public relations industry. It calls on us to withdraw our support for the biggest climate polluters on the planet, no matter how big the budget.

“The biggest part of any creative company’s carbon footprint is the work you do for your clients. One campaign for a fossil fuel client can undo all of an agency’s sustainability gains.”

Why does it exist?

A couple of months ago, BBC Radio 4 released the brilliant podcast, “How they made us doubt everything”. It discusses how PR strategies create doubt around risks to our health and our planet associated with a particular product or industry.

It started in the 1950s, when new research linked smoking to an increased risk of cancer. This threatened huge profit losses for the tobacco industry (sad). So they hatched a plan to create doubt in people’s minds about the significance and reliability of the research. They put the health of their balance sheet above the health of people all over the world.

Over recent decades, the same thing has happened in the oil industry. They have used, and continue to use, the very same tactics to create doubt about the realities of climate change. All in the name of maintaining their profits. And there are strategists and creatives who continue to prop up these narratives and the organisations they serve.

Findings from the Clean Creatives Report

“The International Energy Agency finds the energy sector responsible for roughly three-quarters of global emissions.

As recently as 2019, major oil companies spent over 99% of their capital expenditures on further development of oil and gas projects. This business reality is a stark contrast to the green-tinted picture painted by agencies for fossil fuel companies in their engagement with the public.

Both Shell and BP have been rebuked by regulators in the Netherlands and UK. Both demanded that they end campaigns that mislead the public about their actual commitments to renewable energy and a responsible climate future. Shell has even gone so far as to disclose to investors that “as of February 11, 2021, Shell’s operating plans and budgets do not reflect Shell’s Net-Zero Emissions target,” even while widely advertising that target to the public and regulators.”

– Comms Declare & Clean Creatives Report – Click here to read their report.