Updating advertising’s codes of ethics is now a matter of life and death
The ‘influence industries’ and their role in helping big climate polluters is under increasing scrutiny, thanks to the field of attribution science. Belinda Noble, founder of Comms Declare, explains how Australian advertising’s current code of ethics is no longer fit-for-purpose.
Belinda Noble
It’s not every day that advertising and public relations becomes a matter of life and death. But now, following progress in attribution science, we can demonstrate the direct impact of corporate greenhouse gas emissions.
For the first time, scientists have used attribution science to calculate the number of deaths that will likely be caused by one single Australian gas project. Scientists found Woodside’s Scarborough development off the Western Australian coast could lead to 480 fatalities, push 356,000 people into unlivable heat zones and destroy an extra 16 million coral colonies each time the Great Barrier Reef bleaches.
So how could agencies be caught in this?
Last year as the Scarborough project was going through final approvals, WPP’s Hawker Britton was Woodside’s registered lobbyist in Canberra. WPP’s The Brand Agency was running LinkedIn ads for the company’s North-West shelf project and promoting nonsense about how more gas extraction is required to make renewables work.
Meanwhile, EY was reportedly manipulating data for the gas lobby, leading to a federal government policy of expanding gas production past 2050 despite Australia’s climate commitments.
The links are real and increasingly visible.
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Our industry codes could be helping to help guide us through this new dilemma, so it’s an important time for the AANA to review its Code of Ethics. Not just climate breakdown but the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), political polarisation, global conflicts and decline of trust in institutions are issues marcomms practitioners are deeply concerned about.
Because the AANA Code of Ethics is currently preoccupied with… naughty bits.
It’s Public Review Consultation Discussion Paper says the most complaints it gets from the public, about a third, are about sexual content, followed by violence and health and safety. AI is tackled but there’s no research offered into the broader ethical issues we face.
Less than 4% of people complain about swearing in ads, but the AANA still did comprehensive research and a nice graph to let us know which words are ‘generally acceptable’ (bugger), ‘on the line’ (bullshit) or ‘generally unacceptable’ (f-word).
This is not a criticism of the AANA but rather a narrow ethical framework that seeks to follow what gives the general public ‘the ick’ instead of tackling more important issues that affect our lives and businesses. It demonstrates our industry’s failure to lead.
The Code of Ethics from Communications and Public Relations Australia (formally PRIA) is similarly narrow, mainly concerned with the standing of the profession than the effects we have on public discourse, policy and potentially, fossil fuel project approvals.
In contrast, the UK’s Advertising regulators launched a climate change project in 2021 and has guidance that, not only outlines advertisers’ responsibility to tackle climate change, but makes it a “top priority”. France’s advertising codes includes a ban on “representation of behaviour contrary to the protection of the environment and the preservation of natural resources.” This is not just about stopping greenwashing but making a liveable environment an ethical imperative.
Six in 10 (64%) of Australians are concerned about climate change and 53% agree that if businesses do not act now to combat it, they will be failing their employees and customers.
And its not just an ethical issue. One of the country’s biggest advertisers, the government, has a legal responsibility under the Paris Agreement to reduce emissions. Companies are increasingly required to disclose climate impacts. And attribution science is being used to take climate polluters to court. In June an important precedent was set, with a German high court recognising that a more dangerous climate can be directly linked to corporate emissions. There’s over 3,000 climate litigation cases globally and we can’t presume the ‘influence industries’ will escape their role in protecting and promoting big climate polluters.
We ask that advertising and PR industry bodies step up and provide robust guidance on climate change to protect our industry and our future. It’s now a proven case of life or death.
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