ExxonMobil mimicked the tobacco industry in its climate change communications

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-05-18 07:00

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ExxonMobil's public messaging on climate change has been similar to the historical tactics used by the tobacco industry, finds an analysis by Harvard researchers. The team used AI to analyse internal company documents, peer-reviewed publications, and advertorials placed in The New York Times from as far back as 1972. They found that by the mid-2000s, the company's public communications shifted from explicit doubt about climate change to framing it as a ‘risk’ rather than reality, which downplays the seriousness of climate change. Like Big Tobacco’s documented strategies, the ExxonMobil adverts they analysed shifted responsibility for global warming away from the fossil fuel industry and onto consumers. The researchers want to see more attention on the fossil fuel industry’s messaging tactics.

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Research Elsevier, Web page

Journal/
conference: One Earth

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Organisation/s: Harvard University, USA

Funder: This research was supported by Harvard University Faculty Development Funds and by the Rockefeller Family Fund. The authors have received speaking and writing fees (and N.O. has received book royalties) for communicating their research, which includes but is not limited to the topics addressed in this paper. The authors have no other relevant financial ties and declare no competing interests.

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