Tricky Business: Oil Companies Puzzle Over How to Message Around Climate Change

The US oil and gas industry is in the middle of an advertising push to try to protect their share of the energy marketplace. Bracewell Policy Resolution Group Senior Principal Frank Maisano addressed this topic with the Houston Chronicle, analyzing how oil and gas companies are simultaneously declaring their commitment to addressing climate change while reminding the public of the need for oil and natural gas.

“People are trying to figure out their lane,” said Maisano. “Energy Transfer is trying to remind people how important oil and gas is in our lives. Exxon Mobil is spending a lot on Spotify ads that are very technology focused. And I’ve been pummeled with Saudi Aramco ads about hydrogen.”

A case in point, Dallas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer is running a television ad to highlight how integral oil and gas is in everyday life with the question, “What if we lived in a world without oil and gas?” The ad shows a couple out on the town when all of a sudden their sneakers, their smart phones, their eyeglasses all disappear, along with the tires on their ride share.

Click here to read more from the Houston Chronicle.