The benefit of doubt
“The benefit of the doubt” is an expression meaning that someone is willing to believe in a statement or action as correct, despite the existence of some uncertainty. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that sometimes, our willingness to believe someone can lead to some unfortunate consequences. Looking back, we all have examples of things that we’ve done that obviously weren’t smart. You could probably defend some of those things after the fact by blaming your curiosity or ignorance of the possible outcomes. Some things, though, are regrettable ideas right out of the box and yet, we do them anyway, as if they won’t blow up in our faces or lead to a lukewarm public opinion about the state of our planet’s ever-increasing thermodynamic disequilibrium—you know—climate change.
As designers, we are taught how to be creative, how to take criticism, how to invoice, how to be iterative, how to get clients or obtain jobs; all in service of a better portfolio and more successful employment. But obviously that is not, or should not be, the sole driving force of our career. What we are not taught enough is how to look at a potential job critically, especially when it sounds too good to be true; especially when our planet’s future is at stake. This is an entry about greenwashing, so let’s start by defining the term; according to Merriam-Webster, greenwashing means: “the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is.” Recently, a few large fossil fuel companies announced, that after a year of record profits, they were scaling down their renewable energy initiatives; initiatives that were welcomed (if not entirely believed) over ten years ago.
According to The Guardian in 2010, Exxon invested $600 million in algae biofuel research. The Guardian now, in an article written by Amy Westervelt on March 17, 2023, says that “Exxon invested $350m in algae biofuels, according to spokesperson Casey Norton.” Exxon didn’t spend the full $600 million but they got their money’s worth as far as what they were actually buying: the public perception that Exxon was committed to a renewable energy future.
All of the large oil majors have similar tales to tell over the last decade-plus; years and dollars spent trying to simultaneously assure the public that the climate crisis wasn’t an issue but also that they were going to be the leaders in the energy space that were addressing the climate crisis. They were having their cake and eating it too. This wasn’t just accomplished through statements released through PR quotes or newspaper articles. These all had ad campaigns, videos, celebrity endorsements, and websites. Members of the design industry had a very important role to play in making the public aware of these greenwashed intentions. And it is designers who can play an important role in preventing these messages from continuing to destroy the public’s awareness of the causes of the climate crisis. It is time to stop giving oil companies the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their energy promises. The oil majors will not solve the climate crisis, they are, in fact, the source of it.
An industry focused on green
“A study by the London-based watchdog InfluenceMap found the world’s five largest oil companies have spent $1 billion rebranding themselves as ‘green’ since the Paris Agreement, all the while pushing aggressively to access new supplies of oil and undermine climate rules and regulations at various levels of government.” (Kate Aranoff, Overheated, pg. 28)
BP, also known as British Petroleum, has long sought to look like a leader in the clean energy “revolution.” But merely looking like one has been its only aspiration as far as that goes; actually leading all of us to a cleaner future hasn’t been much of a priority. Along with coining the term “carbon footprint”—a credit they share with the PR agency known then as Ogilvy & Mather—BP famously spent a lot of time and effort to rebrand its initials to mean “Beyond Petroleum.” This became very important in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that decimated marine life in the Gulf of Mexico. But what should be important info for all of us designers reading this, is that when they began this greenwashing campaign—in 2000—they actually spent more money in the two years that they spent rebranding, then they spent in the six years from 2000 on investing in renewable energy sources. If BP was really focused on anything beyond petroleum, it seems that it might have just been limited to increasing its profits.
Royal Dutch Shell, better known simply as Shell, ran a particularly memorable campaign* in 2017, #MakeTheFuture, which featured musicians like Jennifer Hudson and Steve Aoki in an effort to tout its clean energy initiatives to a younger audience and was helped in the effort by agencies like J. Walter Thompson, Mediacom, Edelman, Particle3, Cord Worldwide, Eko, Picnic, and Colloquial. The campaign consisted of a number of “above-the-line, paid media, social, PR, and social enterprise partnerships” that was intended to "engage global audiences in the energy debate through a song that is upbeat, catchy and positive, which also mirrors the sentiment of having access to more and cleaner energy," according to Malena Cutuli, group head of integrated brand communications at Shell. Of course, as we saw earlier, in the wake of record profits, Shell has decided this year not to increase spending on renewable energy. So, presumably, those younger audiences can keep the upbeat song, but forget about that clean energy future.
We’ve already seen that Exxon Mobil has decided to pull out of its clean energy commitments as well. Here’s the thing: with the exception of oil wells, the only thing that fossil fuel companies look to tap is our good will and readiness to believe their lies. The article (listed above) that said that Exxon only invested $350 million on algae biofuel research, continues with an anonymous employee mentioning that while working they would notice the big crews that Exxon dispatched to get footage for its ads. “I would see them running and think I wish they had given us more research funding versus spending so much on advertising.” It is evident that even some that work for the oil majors want to look for alternatives to dirty fossil fuels. But Big Oil isn’t interested. It is time that designers, advertisers, videographers, and musicians realized this as well.
Washing away the green veneer
“‘Despite what a lot of activists say,’ Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told Reuters in a 2019 interview, ‘it is entirely legitimate to invest in oil and gas because the world demands it.’ He added that the company has ‘no choice’ but to invest in projects whose life spans would reach decades into the future, well beyond when the IPCC recommends that 87 percent of oil usage be phased out.” (Kate Aranoff, Overheated, pg. 98)
The good news is that many are waking up to that reality. “You know, nothing like profits rolling in to make Big Oil show its true colors,” Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media told Grist. “I think over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the industry take off the green mask that it has been wearing for the last few years and remind us of its true identity and its real business model, which is the continued extraction and production of fossil fuels at the expense of our climate and communities.” This is the perfect time for the design industry to cut ties with fossil fuel companies and remember that our responsibilities go beyond merely creating and promoting products and services and instead extends to serving our communities and solving people’s problems with our creative skill. Especially now, in the shadow of the Biden Administration’s decision to approve drilling for oil in the Arctic when it okayed the Willow Project.
I’ll acknowledge that this is not easy. My first full-time job as a designer was at a small agency that primarily serviced a fleet-fueling-focused fossil fuel company. I made infographics, web images, and more in the service of an industry that I was only just wising up to. I could not simply quit my job—my family had to eat, after all. But what I could do was admit to myself that my situation wasn’t ideal and that when something better came along that I needed to leave my job. Please hear me: I am not recommending some sort of purity test for you to determine if you are a “real” climate designer or anything. All you need is honesty. That alone is a launching off point to a better trajectory. Every action matters, from the smallest on up. Websites like Clean Creatives (and Climate Designers!) offer communities and resources from which to continue down a path of greater commitments.
We’ve gained a lot from the innovations that fossil fuels have afforded us, but it is time to move on, as a global community, and as a design community. Just as we have gained from fossil fuels in the past, the oil majors have gained much from our creative minds. It’s time to move past believing that they will lead us to a clean energy future because they will not. We always need to be critical of their promises, because history has shown us they will renege time and time again. We’ve given them the benefit for too long, it’s time for us to give ourselves the benefit that comes from caution: it’s time for us to reap the benefit of doubt.
So, call-to-action time
Have you ever noticed greenwashing campaigns in your daily life? Have any of the seemed particularly convincing? What other industries are greenwashing their actions? Sound off in the comments section over on our Mighty Networks site!
*Perhaps they ran the campaign to distract people from Googling the phrase “Ken Saro-Wiwa Dutch Royal Shell”?
Reading recommendations for this entry: Overheated by Kate Aranoff, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor by Rob Nixon, The New Climate War by Michael E. Mann
Be part the conversation
Perspective is a gift and with each new perspective the Field Guides get better.
Whether you are a prospective writer/contributor, a commenter, or a reader: new experiences, new connections, and ways of seeing the world leave us richer than before.
This entry was written by
Matt McGillvray
Matt is a designer and illustrator living near Portland, Maine, and has been working for more than a decade doing branding, illustration, web design, print design, social media posts, and even a little SEO.
When not designing he’s usually reading, writing, or running. His current big writing project is a book about design and climate change. He is a chronic teller of puns and will not apologize for that.