Corporate promotion and climate change: an analysis of key variables affecting advertising spending by major oil corporations, 1986–2015

Robert J. Brulle (), Melissa Aronczyk and Jason Carmichael
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Robert J. Brulle: Brown University
Melissa Aronczyk: Brown University
Jason Carmichael: Brown University

Climatic Change, 2020, vol. 159, issue 1, No 7, 87-101

Abstract: Abstract Advertising by fossil fuel companies is a ubiquitous element of modern political life. Promotional campaigns in the service of a corporation’s position toward environmental issues such as climate change are prevalent in the oil and gas sectors, where corporate image is seen as a valuable asset in managing risk, controlling negative media attention, and overcoming resistance by antagonistic civil society groups. This article assesses advertising expenditures by five major oil and gasoline companies for the time period 1986 to 2015. We examine four major factors that may influence spending on advertising by the oil and gas sectors: (1) the overall reputation of the oil and gas sector; (2) congressional attention to climate change; (3) media attention to climate change; and (4) a series of control variables including major oil spills, the publication of major climate change reports, overall public concern about climate change, GDP, and oil prices. We find that the factors that most influence corporate promotional spending are media coverage and congressional attention to the issue of climate change.

Keywords: Major oil corporations; Climate change; Advertising (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-019-02582-8

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