CISS Affiliate’s Study Examines Fossil Fuel Ads and Miscommunication
What looks and sounds like a news story, but actually isn’t? A native ad—an advertisement camouflaged as news. The ads have headlines, quotes, and everything else you would expect to see in a regular news article. But they are not news—and can often be misleading.
In a new study, Boston University researchers found an energy company’s native ad was very effective at swaying public opinion on climate change—and, they argue, not necessarily for the better. But they also discovered several effective methods to lessen the impact of these types of ads—which have been used to promote everything from insurance to Scientology. The results were published in the npj Climate Action.
“Many major news organizations now offer corporations the opportunity to pay for articles that mimic in tone and format the publication’s regular reported content,” says Benjamin Sovacool, director of the BU Institute for Global Sustainability & CISS Affiliate…
To read more, visit THE BRINK where this article originally appeared on April 24, 2025.