"Asked to explain why Exxon’s climate-related ads are not political, @Twitter declined to comment. A Harvard researcher who studies Exxon for a living, however, did not hold back."
⬆️I chat today w/ HEATED/@emorwee.
⬇️A few follow-up thoughts... THREAD.heated.world/p/exxon-climat…
⬆️I chat today w/ HEATED/@emorwee.
⬇️A few follow-up thoughts... THREAD.heated.world/p/exxon-climat…
2/n: First, and most crucially, I declare my personal slogan henceforth to be: Not holding back since 2019™. 
3/n: As I discuss with @emorwee, Mobil & ExxonMobil have pioneered issue advertising for decades, on climate change and every other topic of political concern to them. I know because I've read pretty much all of them. nytimes.com/2017/08/22/opi…
4/n: In fact, they practically invented the opinion-advertorial. Led by PR legend Herb Schmertz, Mobil took out the first advertorial in The New York Times in 1970, and roughly 1-in-4 thereafter that ever appeared in the newspaper.
6/n: Advertorials are uncontroversially defined by political/social scientists as a form of political advertising called 'outside lobbying'. They're not selling products, they're selling ideas - about policy & politics. That's their raison d'être.
7/n: @amywestervelt has articulated this point better than anyone. washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/0…
8/n: Indeed, Mobil's *own* internal documents acknowledge their goal - and success - of weaponizing advertorials to target "opinion leaders" including politicians and the media.
Ref: documentcloud.org/documents/5396…
Ref: documentcloud.org/documents/5396…
9/n: @NaomiOreskes & I have studied ExxonMobil's political issue advertorials in detail, & it is self-evident that today's Twitter ads are their 21st century extension. As I told @emorwee, they epitomize the art. Indeed, they are the state of the art. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.108…
10/n: So it's pretty flabbergasting that @Twitter isn't banning these ExxonMobil ads.
11/n: On Exxon's ads about carbon capture & biofuels, as I told @emorwee: There is no product to sell! So what purpose do these ads conceivably serve other than to promote a political narrative on climate change and energy that protects Exxon’s business interests?
12/n: And on Exxon's ads promoting doubt about #ExxonKnew history: They’re literally alleging a political conspiracy! 🤯 As one of those targeted by these ads, they feel pretty damn political to me. What else do you call attack ads designed to discredit peer-reviewed science?
13/n: It's pretty ironic (read: bonkers) that our peer-reviewed analysis of how Exxon used ads to corrupt global warming politics is now being attacked by Exxon ads that corrupt global warming politics.
Dear @jack: How, exactly, are these ads not political enough to be banned?
Dear @jack: How, exactly, are these ads not political enough to be banned?
