"Exxon Hates Your Children," a new ad targeting the fossil fuel industry declares.
Two advocacy groups, Oil Change International and The Other 98%, launched ExxonHatesYourChildren.com on Wednesday, encouraging Congress to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies amid fiscal cliff negotiations.
Their website promotes a TV ad of a fake Exxon representative declaring, "We all know the climate crisis will rip [your children's] world apart, but we don't care, because it'll make us rich."
The groups aim to place their ads in markets where American Petroleum Institute is running its own ads, with a very different message. The top oil lobby group argues, "More energy development produces more jobs, revenue and energy. More taxes produce less of all three."
According to The Hill, Exxon responded to the "Exxon Hates Your Children" campaign in a statement: “Energy use and climate change are critically important challenges facing society that won’t be resolved with media campaigns that rely on provocative language and false allegations.”
The new campaign is certainly provocative. Among its reasons why "Exxon must hate your children," the site argues, "their business model depends on drilling for more and more of the fuels that cause climate disruption, even though fossil fuel companies have already discovered significantly more oil, gas and coal than scientists say we can safely burn."
The site links to a Rolling Stone article by 350.org's Bill McKibben, who stated, "We have five times as much oil and coal and gas on the books as climate scientists think is safe to burn. We'd have to keep 80 percent of those reserves locked away underground to avoid that fate."
The Hill reports that the groups behind the campaign support legislation "that would strip billions of dollars of tax deductions, royalty incentives and federal fossil fuel research programs," and claims to save about $113 billion over 10 years.
According to the Associated Press, renewable energy received six times less support worldwide last year than fuel subsidies. A past report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that removing these subsidies could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from the levels they'd otherwise reach in 2050.
Related
Before You Go
