It’s debatable whose duplicity in advertising came first - that of the tobacco industry or that of the fossil fuel industry - but there is no denying that for decades they have been using the same playbook when it comes to advertising.
But in Canada Big Oil may be facing a ‘tobacco moment’ of their own with the tabling of a private member’s bill to prohibit fossil fuel advertising. This move, predictably, has provoked outrage online. However the National Observer article accurately observes that the proposed bill is “actually closely modelled on the Tobacco Act, which successfully controlled tobacco advertising in the face of that public health crisis.”
Meanwhile, in the UK, the group AdFreeCities, succeeded in their campaigns to get a Toyota ad that shows Toyota Hilux SUV “drivers ripping through sensitive natural areas and cities” taken off the air and off of digital advertising displays that are becoming more and more common on UK streets. AdFreeCities doesn’t just object to car ads but wants to return to a public space that is more peaceful and in which you are not constantly bombarded by commercial and corporate messaging in the forms of advertising.
What do you think - is it time for fossil fuel advertising to go the way of tobacco ads - that is taken off the air completely in the interest of health and wellbeing of not just people but the planet itself?