Don't Look Up director Adam McKay hasn't been particularly subtle about calling for changes in how we treat the environment. The entire gist of the Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence-starrer is showing the devastating consequences of ignoring and papering over threats to our life on Earth. He also recently joined the Climate Emergency Fund's board of directors after donating $4 million to the organization in an effort to help the fight for expedient climate action rather than small changes. It's no surprise then that a satirical fake ad for the energy company Chevron posted online yesterday was McKay's handiwork.
McKay shared the ad on Twitter yesterday, and it has since exploded, racking up 4.5 million views at the time of writing. It starts off as the run-of-the-mill massive company ad with stock shots of comforting images including a mother and her young baby and a load of footage of nature. As the ad goes on, the narrator goes from the typical statements about Chevron caring about life on the planet and their role in keeping it safe to increasingly sinister remarks, starting with how the company thinks the most precious form of life is the kind that's been dead for years and is now turning into oil which they can turn into gasoline.
Cheerful images of people are shown as the narrator explains why we need gas — "...so a cool ass tank can crush a clay hut, or an airplane can take a businessman 3,000 miles to have dinner with someone, or whatever, all the while releasing greenhouse gasses that are transforming the planet right this second into a hellish George Miller film." By the halfway point of the ad, all pretenses are dropped, and the narrator just proclaims how little Chevron cares about you all while insulting your kids and your dog and flaunting how much money they have to pay for ads that lull you into a false sense of security. The ad doesn't spare other oil giants either as a disclaimer at the end notes that the message applies to all other energy companies that pollute the environment as well as politicians that green-light their actions in return for money.
Although the ad was spread on Twitter by McKay, it was also posted as the first video on McKay's Hyperobject Industries YouTube channel. Hyperobject produced the satire, with McKay writing while the voice-over was provided by Steven San Miguel. McKay's Don't Look Up co-producer Staci Roberts-Steele also produced the ad, and Bruce Herrman edited everything together.
As for where McKay got the inspiration for the satirical ad, he gave Deadline a rather blunt and bleak response. "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," the director said. He and his Hyperobject Industries are in high demand these days, though his next directorial effort, Bad Blood, is still a ways off as he juggles several other productions.
Check out McKay's scathing jab at Chevron and big oil below.