Americans love college sports, and so do oil and gas companies.
About 96% of more than 2,000 fossil fuel ads aired during live national games between 2022 and 2024 were during college football and basketball, compared to about 4% for professional sports, according to a CBS News data analysis of data from television ad tracking firm, iSpot.tv.
Duncan Meisel, a climate activist and a leading voice against advertising by fossil fuel companies, said many of these ads during televised games talk about supporting communities and the environment without ever acknowledging the industry’s role in climate change.
“The problem is they’re selling a product that they know harms people, that they know harms the planet,” Meisel said.
About one in ten of the more than 2,000 ads carried a pro-climate message, like recycling cooking oil for renewable diesel, “sustainable” aviation fuel, lower carbon emissions or fuel made from corn.
While Meisel didn’t dispute the accuracy of these claims, he emphasized that they’re not these companies’ main goal, and likely a very small percentage of what they produce.
CBS News reached out to Valero for comment on its ads highlighting renewable diesel and aviation fuel, but the company has not responded in time for this story’s publication.
It’s an effective business strategy to advertise during college sports, according to Peter Carton, who directs the Sports Management program at Southern Methodist University.
Carton said the college sports demographic tends to be middle-to-upper income. The return on investment for these companies is higher than for pro sports, because it’s cheaper to advertise.
“When they look at where do they want to put their advertising dollars and marketing dollars to reach certain demographics, college is much more efficient,” Carton said.
“You’re very familiar, I’m sure we all are, with the cost of advertising on the Super Bowl. That’s outside of the reach of many, many companies. But to be able to get a very passionate, dedicated consumer base, that’s the college market,” he said.
The motive is less straightforward to climate activist Meisel, whose non-profit Clean Creatives convinced more than 1,300 ad firms to cut ties with fossil fuel companies. One of those fossil fuel companies is Energy Transfer, a Texas-based pipeline company that doesn’t sell products to consumers, but still advertises locally.
“I think it gets to the heart of a lot of fossil fuel advertising, which is essentially lobbying in public,” said Meisel.
Energy Transfer provided a statement to CBS News that said, “Overall, we are trying to reach as many people as possible to further their understanding of the importance of oil and natural gas not only in the manufacturing sector but as one of our country’s primary economic drivers.”
It’s a message fossil fuel companies hope will resonate with college sports fans.
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