Clean Creatives on decision not to disrupt Cannes 2024

When asked by PRWeek whether it had any protests lined up for this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, anti-fossil-fuel campaign group Clean Creatives said it had not planned any stunts and was not aware of any disruptive climate protests due to take place.

Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, explained: “Cannes is a difficult and expensive place to engage, even for big agencies, and it’s even more challenging for a small non-profit like Clean Creatives to bring together a team to make a splash on the Croisette.”

He added, however, that he believes the message for PR and advertising agencies to stop working with fossil-fuel clients has been heard more widely this year – including in a recent speech by the UN secretary-general.

“Creative leaders have already been hearing about the problems with fossil-fuel clients from the UN secretary-general, their clean clients and their peers, and that message will carry through the event no matter what.”

Meisel will be attending the festival to deliver a 30-minute session, titled ‘Four climate supertrends that will shape the future of creativity’, today (17 June).

He said: “Two years ago, the message to drop fossil-fuel clients was delivered on stage in the Palais by someone disrupting a major speech and returning their Lions trophy; now, that call will be delivered in an official speaking slot.

“That shows enormous growth for our movement and the efforts to cut out fossil-fuel clients, and I’m excited to see how it leads to new conversations and opportunities this year and beyond.”

Meisel noted: “As always, surprises could be in store, and we’ll be on our toes no matter what.”

Last year, members of the campaign group targeted Richard Edelman at Cannes, holding placards up behind the agency boss as he walked along Boulevard de la Croisette.

Other initiatives from Clean Creatives include its F-List Awards, in which it recognised agencies including Edelman, Ogilvy and Havas last month.

The group’s pledge for creative agencies to refuse to work with fossil-fuel corporations has now surpassed 1,000 agency signatures.