How bout the other 98%?

The Dalai Lama is quoted with saying “A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity”.

So it may be no surprise that two of the ickiest companies on the planet – Shell and Chevron – are about as opaque as you can get.

Some stats are so ridiculous, they’re actually kinda funny:

• In 2021, 80% of Chevron’s advertising mentioned words like sustainable, renewable, and clean; Yet only 1.8% (of its $17 billion spend) was in renewables.
• Shell invests more in renewables at 12% according to its cash projection (also from 2021), but that 12% lumped “investment in renewables” with Shell’s marketing spend… from one commentator: ”Most likely, investments in marketing are higher than in renewables, otherwise Shell would have reported them separately.”

Both companies and others like them, are pushing hard on the renewables angle in their advertising. Personally I’m not interested in hearing about the barely 2% investment until I know more about the 98% of spend going elsewhere (with full appreciation that 2% in Shell world is enormous, but it’s really just pennies).

Delusional me wants them to burn all their cash on ads telling us that they actually couldn’t give a f**k about climate and are buying up all the oil and gas they can while the market’s hot, but I’m pretty sure that wont happen.

They actually don’t need to do that in advertising… they just need to front up about the other 98%, and do it somewhere public. “Look, we’re not perfect but…” might be a good place to start.

Trust in these two companies is about as low as it gets. Ads trying to build that up by smoke-screening what’s really going on is a terrible strategy to rebuild that trust.

Drop the ads, talk about the other 98%, and blow the marketing budget on actually beefing up investment in renewables.

If Shell is good for one thing, it’s lessons in what not to do when attempting to build trust.

Your 98% is not something to shy away from. Almost everyone is starting on their climate journey from zero – doing things the way they’ve always been done, until we discover better and smarter ways of doing them.

Declaring your honest intentions is so much more powerful than a million-dollar ad.