Global, 14 October 2025:- Ahead of November’s COP 30 climate summit in Brazil, a darkly satirical and provocative short animated film released today condemns the public relations industry’s role in driving the devastating impacts of fossil fuel extraction and use on human health, through its spreading of disinformation.
The Well-Oiled plan – created by Daniel Bird and Adam Levy at Wit & Wisdom, in association with the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA), follows a cynical conversation between a PR executive Tony and his client, the CEO of “Grunt Oil” and reveals how the fossil fuel industry used Big Tobacco’s PR tricks: selling poison as ‘freedom’.
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Download Video here – along with social media versions, in EN, FR, EN, PT
The short, sharp satirical 2 minute 38 second animation, starring internet comedians Michael Spicer and Cody Dahler, as well as actors Sinead Phelps and Jaylah Moore-Ross, comprises scenes spun off from My Pet Footprint, a comedy feature film “about climate grief” currently in development with the co-operation of Greenpeace.
“Fossil fuels are making people sick—and the companies behind them are spending millions on advertising and PR to cover it up”, said Shweta Narayan, Campaign Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, a consortium of more than 200 health professional and health civil society organisations and networks from around the world addressing climate change.
“The PR and communications industry must commit to fossil-free contracts”, added Narayan. “Firms cannot claim to advance sustainability while helping fossil fuel companies greenwash their image or delay climate policy. We call on agencies to adopt fossil-free policies, disclose all fossil fuel clients, and ensure their work does not obstruct the transition to clean, healthy energy systems.”
“My Pet Footprint plays with the idea that consciences are removable,” said Daniel Bird, the film’s director. “Decades ago the fossil fuel industry decided business as usual was worth any price, and it takes an incredible deficit of conscience to be able to do that when that price is the demise of civilisation and possibly even life in general.” Describing the writing process, he said, “we took a direct route from smoking as an evil perpetuated on individuals, and the nascent public relations industry around that, to smoking as an industrial process imposed upon the global population. The only difference now is that the PR machine has become all the more sophisticated, and, dare we say it, successful.”
Michael Spicer is known for his Man Next Door sketches satirically undermining politicians’ public announcements, while Cody Dahler plays a variety of characters nailing day-to-day political developments to a large Instagram audience.
Cody Dahler said, “It was such fun making this film,” while Spicer added, “It really is an impactful piece. It looks amazing.”
According to Clean Creatives, a movement of advertisers, PR professionals, and their clients cutting ties with fossil fuels, the top 29 fossil fuel companies spend US $7 billion each year on PR, media, and advertising.
“Health organizations should not be hiring agencies with fossil fuel clients”, said Duncan Meisel, Executive Director of Clean Creatives. “The fossil fuel industry is one of the leading causes of long-term illness and premature death worldwide, and agencies that help sell coal, oil, or gas products have a conflict of interest when it comes to organizations and companies that promote public health. At the same time, the public health sector has enormous leverage to use their procurement policies to accelerate the marketing industry’s exit from fossil fuels.”
Since May of this year, some 77 health organisations have signed up to the Break the Fossil Influence – Fossil-Free Health Communications campaign, committing to no longer work with PR and ad agencies that also provide services to the fossil fuel industry.
The release of The Well-Oiled Plan follows GCHA’s publication of Cradle to Grave: The Health Toll of Fossil Fuels and the Imperative for a Just Transition, the first comprehensive global overview of the health consequences associated with fossil fuel use at every stage of the production cycle, from extraction to waste, and across the human lifespan, from pregnancy and before birth to old age.
“The same PR firms spreading fossil fuel disinformation are also working with health organizations—a clear conflict of interest for health. Through the Break the Fossil Influence – Fossil-Free Health Communications commitment, health organizations are leading by example, by cutting ties with those agencies”, said Narayan.
In August, the Global Climate and Health Alliance also criticised the hiring of PR company Edelman – which handles the global PR account for fossil fuel giant Shell, by Brazil’s COP 30 presidency, and has called on countries vying to host COP31 to pledge now that they will steer clear of fossil fuel sponsorships or use of fossil fuel communications firms.
More recently, in excess of 225 organisations, including the Global Climate and Health Alliance have urged Brazil to prevent fossil fuel industry capture of COP30 climate summit.
As pressure has ramped up, the UNFCCC has started to take steps. According to “Kick the Big Polluters Out”, the COP30 Observer Handbook released by UNFCCC on September 15 implements “greater disclosure of who is being allowed to participate in the shaping and guiding of the global response to climate change.”
“It’s time for the UNFCCC to draw a red line: no PR or advertising firms that continue to work for fossil fuel companies should be allowed to shape the story of the COP or the climate crisis”, said Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “For all future COPs, governments and the UNFCCC must adopt clear conflict-of-interest rules and ethical procurement standards for all communications, PR, and event contractors — just as the World Health Organization does under its tobacco control framework. No agency that represents fossil fuel or other high-polluting industries should be eligible to run communications, media, or branding for future COPs or UN climate processes.”
“It’s no accident that 30 years into the UN process to tackle climate change, progress is stymied by fossil fuel interests”, added Miller. “This is the result of deliberate, years-long efforts by the fossil fuel industry, with the help of PR agencies, to sow doubt, influence decision makers, and greenwash their own efforts. We cannot hope to achieve success at climate summits if we continue to allow fossil fuel companies and their PR friends to run riot.”
“Increasing transparency about who is attending COP is a good first step, and it is encouraging to start to see movement on this issue,” said Miller. “But the fictional Tony and his PR ilk along with the fossil fuel moguls of the world have many tricks up their sleeves. To ensure that COP policy decisions are guided as they should be – by the aim of delivering a world in which every child in every country can grow up in a healthy and sustainable environment, with full opportunity for a healthy life – we need clear and strong guardrails around climate policy making, that keep out the influence of polluting industries, whatever forms that may take. Just as the health community once stood up to Big Tobacco and its advertising, now it’s time to stand up to Big Oil.”
Download Video here – along with social media versions, in EN, FR, EN, PT
ENDS
Contact:
Dave Walsh, Communications Advisor, Global Climate and Health Alliance, [email protected], +34 691 826 764 (Available from 0630 CET)
About GCHA
The Global Climate and Health Alliance is a consortium of more than 200 health professional and health civil society organisations and networks from around the world addressing climate change. We are united by a shared vision of an equitable, sustainable future, in which the health impacts of climate change are minimised, and the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation are maximised.
Find out more: https://climateandhealthalliance.org/who-we-are/about/
