Havas Media’s First Shell Campaign Is Under Investigation for Greenwashing

The responsibility of media agencies 

Still, the complaints and a potential ruling against Shell call into question Havas Media’s ability to avoid greenwashing while working for the oil major—something that Bolloré said the agency was committed to doing.

“We will make [a] more effective impact from within,” Bolloré told Campaign. “We won’t participate in any greenwashing whatsoever and we will accompany them and help achieve their transition.”

Robert Mayhew, a climate-minded social media creator and creative director at agency Gravity Road, parodied the interview on TikTok. The LinkedIn post of the video has more than 140,000 impressions and reached over 60,000 users.

One senior marketer at a holding company-owned agency, speaking to ADWEEK on condition of anonymity, said that Bolloré’s previous comments represent a hypocritical attitude toward sustainability that is common among ad agency leadership and frustrating to climate-minded marketers.

“Stop gaslighting us,” the person said. “Any CEO, any account director at an agency, is not telling an oil company how to transition. That’s not a conversation that’s happening.”

Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, pointed to Shell dropping its climate commitments, meaning that Havas has become “a vital part of promoting their pollution agenda for the foreseeable future.”

“That will have really big impacts on [Havas Media’s] reputation and potentially on their business,” he added.