Activists Launch Spoof App "Oilwell" to Expose Edelman's Fossil Fuel PR Ties

May. 08, 2025

A provocative new campaign is turning the marketing world’s obsession with wellness on its head. Oilwell, a spoof meditation app launched this week by climate campaigners. Oilwell is the world's first meditation app designed to help you find inner peace while the world burns. Oilwell invites users to "breathe through the breakdown", creating a mock mindfulness approach to dramatise Edelman’s indifference to the consequences of its ongoing work with oil and gas companies.

Complete with guided meditations that satirise the seriousness of the climate crisis and how to deal with it, is an educational message and a call to action. Beneath its calming mantras and slick interface lies a sharp critique of PR complicity in climate harm. The app’s launch targets Edelman, the world’s largest PR agency, not only for its work with fossil fuel clients, but for simultaneously promoting health and sustainability-focused clients. Serious People, the campaigners behind the initiative argue this is a dangerous conflict of interest at a time when climate anxiety is on the rise.

The campaign is backed by a nationally representative survey of 2,000 adults. The data reveals widespread mistrust in companies and PR firms associated with fossil fuel interests. Over half (56 per cent) of respondents said it is hypocritical for a company to claim it supports climate action while helping to promote fossil fuel expansion. Nearly 50 per cent said they would trust a PR firm less if they
discovered it worked with oil and gas clients.

Particularly pertinent to Edleman’s health focused clients, is that the climate crisis their oil and gas clients are contributing to, is damaging the nation’s mental health and wellbeing. Over half (56%) say they feel concerned about the climate crisis, and more than a third reporting feelings of anger (40%) and guilt (35%). A significant 34% simply say they feel overwhelmed. These emotional responses cut across age, gender and background, revealing a widespread psychological toll that is increasingly hard to ignore.

The anxiety surrounding climate change is driven by both immediate and long-term fears and have been brought sharply into focus by recent events. The most commonly cited source of anxiety is the recent rise in extreme weather events (31%), but longterm, there is also worry about the threat to future generations (26%), and the extinction of species (25%). Localised environmental concerns also rank highly, with nearly one in four (23%) worried about the direct effects of air pollution, heatwaves and flooding in their own communities and on their own health. Meanwhile, 23% say their anxiety stems from a belief that governments and companies are failing to act, or are simply saying the right things without delivering meaningful change.

When asked about businesses that damage the environment, nearly 40% of respondents said these companies should be sanctioned or fined by the government. A further third (30%) felt such firms should be denied public contracts, while a quarter (27%) said trade and industry bodies should take action. One in five (21%) even said senior leaders in polluting companies should face potential jail terms.

The backlash isn’t reserved only for polluters, which should worry those in the PR industry that work with them. Companies that help promote or represent polluting industries are also under fire. Half (50%) of respondents said they would trust a PR agency less if it continued working with an oil or gas company. Over 54% felt such partnerships directly contradicted climate commitments, and 56% said it was hypocritical for a company that supports climate action to help promote fossil fuel expansion. Perhaps most tellingly, half believe that other environmentally conscious organisations should sever ties with any firm aiding fossil fuel growth.

Among workers, 40% said they would consider leaving their job if they discovered their company was engaged in environmentally harmful practices. One in three said there is a gap between what their employer says about sustainability and what it actually does.

To draw attention to the issue, campaigners sent spoof invitations to Edelman employees and clients, posing as Richard Edelman. They also visited Edelman’s London office in Oilwell-branded "climate denial headgear", highlighting the absurdity of promoting wellbeing while defending fossil fuel polluters.

Jamie Inman, campaign strategist, said:

"Edelman positions itself as an expert in trust. But no PR agency can be trusted to promote health and sustainability while simultaneously enabling fossil fuel companies to pollute without consequence. While Edelman pumps out oil and gas PR, the world’s climate gets more dangerous and unpredictable for everyone. This industry must take a hard look at itself, before it gets burned from playing both sides. It’s ridiculous to pretend that you can be committed to climate action while greenwashing on such a massive scale. Health companies have a brilliant role to play here. They have a right to expect that their agency partners are fully committed to a healthy, livable planet."

 

Oli Frost, the creative director behind the Oilwell project, said:

“Why change the world when you can change people’s perception of it? This isn’t just the philosophy of our app. It’s the reason fossil fuel and PR companies work together. Oilwell is a meditation app that shows you how to block out “distractions” like the global climate crisis. It’s the same tactic used by PR companies like Edelman, drawing attention to small renewable projects, and away from massive oil and gas expansion. What Edelman does for fossil fuel companies, Oilwell does for your conscience — provide a comforting narrative that everything is fine, even while the planet keeps warming. (The only difference is we’re honest about it.) Oilwell is a meditation app designed to help you find inner peace while the world burns. But it’s also what PR stories do for the fossil fuel industry.

 

The campaign is calling on brands in the health and sustainability sectors, committed to supportingpublic and planet health, including AstraZeneca, to review their relationships with agencies that continue to work with the fossil fuel industry.