Seen a lot of Woodside billboards lately? You’re not imagining it.
Data seen by Comms Declare shows that the petroleum giant quadrupled its spend on outdoor ads in 2024… even though it doesn’t sell anything directly to the public. Unusually, many of those ads were in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, not just in Western Australia where Woodside normally focuses its promotional efforts.
All up, the company spent $800,501 on outdoor ads in 2024, as part of a $2,539,912 advertising blitz including TV, radio and newspapers.
Sadly, that’s peanuts compared to the world’s largest coal exporter, Glencore.
In 2024 it almost doubled its spend on outdoor ads to $1,067,641 as part of a $3,762,895 campaign. In fact, Glencore has dropped nearly $14 million on traditional advertising over the last three years.
This advertising helps promote the use of coal and gas and delay the transition to renewables. It comes before a federal election where energy policy is a major issue. Despite this, outdoor advertising and media companies do not class it as being political, meaning it is not subject to restrictions imposed on civil society groups that campaign for climate action. Read more in Renew Economy.
| Ampol | BP | Chevron | Glencore | Santos | Woodside | |
| 2022-24 | $30,345,577 | $21,433,422 | $4,888,307 | $13,971,339 | $3,346,782 | $5,321,314 |
Three years spend on TV, radio, newspaper and outdoor advertising in Australia from Nielson, SMI
