Adam McKay Made a Blistering Ad Targeting Chevron and Big Oil

Director Adam McKay and his production company, Hyperobject Industries, went hard and fast at Chevron in a scathing nearly two-minute ad.

What begins with treasured scenes—crashing waves, a newborn in its mother’s arms, a hummingbird taking nectar from a flower and a calming voiceover: “We at Chevron believe that nothing is more precious than life”—goes off the rails real fast.

At about the 12-second mark, the voiceover continues, “And the most precious life of all is the dead kind that has been compressed for hundreds of millions of years under massive rocks until it magically becomes oil.”

Nothing subtle here. And in fact, it only gets worse.

As charming pictures of wild horses walking barefoot in the grass and a kite flying flood the screen, the voiceover reminds us that the oil is refined into gasoline that leads to greenhouse gases transforming the planet into a George Miller film.

It gets worse for Chevron. “Because at the end of the day, we at Chevron straight up don’t give a fuck about you, your weird children or your stupid, ratty-ass dog.”

Continuing the greenwashing callout, the ad reminds viewers that Chevron has billions to spend on stock images and music to make us forget the company is actively murdering us.

“The idea for making this video joking about how Chevron, along with all the other oil companies, are murdering us every day, came from the fact that Chevron and all the other oil companies are murdering us every day,” McKay said in a statement.

Perhaps the Chevron ads below, from earlier this year, were the inspiration for McKay’s opus?

CREDITS

Writer: Adam McKay
Voice: Steven San Miguel
Editor: Bruce Herrman
Producer: Staci Roberts-Steele
Special Thanks Lost Planet and Stalkr