This Woke PR Firm Is Quietly Running an Influencer Campaign for Fossil Fuels

The New York-based PR firm Porter Novelli, which has clients in 60 countries, has launched a conversation series called “Creating a New Climate: For Earth, For Women, For Justice.”

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“When you switch to natural gas, you get incredible savings and unlimited coziness,” reads an Instagram ad that began running this week for Natural Gas Genius, the latest in an advertising effort by the American Public Gas Association to convince new homebuyers to choose gas appliances at a time when efforts to phase out gas are growing. The ads feature lots of fake fireplaces, barbecues, stocked kitchens with gas stoves, and smiling millennials.

A report last year from the group Carbon Tracker was clear: fossil fuel companies have to cut their production of oil and gas one-third by 2040 for the world to have any chance of meeting the Paris climate targets. There is no room for the gas industry to expand.

The “Gas Genius” campaign, first reported on earlier this summer by Mother Jones’ Rebecca Leber, was developed by Porter Novelli starting in 2018. The central message is “around the whole idea of natural gas as a lifestyle and not just a one-time purchase,” said Mary Faulke, a Porter Novelli strategist, during a private webinar for the American Public Gas Association, which was reviewed by VICE News. “As you can see, this strategy has really been paying off for us.”

During 2019, “the campaign saw 5.9 million paid media impressions; 41,605 click-throughs to the website; and, 14,669 people reached on Facebook,” according to the American Public Gas Association.

shrug Its not out of line with what these PR firms are already churning out.