‘Big oil knew. Big oil lied. We need a president that will make them pay.’

Washington, DC — LCV Victory Fund today launched a new $2 million national cable and digital ad campaign focused on urging voters to break Big Oil’s hold on our elected officials by defeating Donald Trump and electing Joe Biden. The campaign, initially launching in the battleground state of Arizona before a run on national cable TV, portrays the fossil fuel industry’s history of denying responsibility and downplaying their own science on climate change, while also highlighting how corporate polluters benefit from Trump’s dangerous environmental rollbacks. The program includes multiple 60, 30, 15 and 6 second ads.

WATCH: “Make Them Pay” 

“Trump isn’t the only one who denies reality and puts people’s health and safety at risk,” said Pete Maysmith, SVP of Campaigns for LCV Victory Fund. “The fossil fuel industry continues to try to muddy the waters when it comes to their responsibility for the climate crisis, and they rely on politicians like Trump who are willing to ignore science and health experts to roll back critical environmental protections. That’s why we’re making sure voters understand that we need a leader like Joe Biden who will make polluters, not people, pay for the damage they are causing.”

Polling continues to show that the majority of voters are looking for bold action on climate. Biden himself launched the first climate-focused general election TV ad in the critical state of Michigan this week. Meanwhile, Big Oil’s industry association, American Petroleum Institute, just launched a $1 million campaign recycling the same fear-based tactics they’ve used in the past.

The new LCV Victory Fund ads feature actors portraying oil executives recounting the decades of marketing conducted to downplay the impacts of climate change despite the findings of their own scientists, as well as their support for the environmental rollbacks of the Trump administration.

“We are working to make it clear that Big Oil is just as out of step with voters as the politicians they support,” continued Maysmith. “As the oil industry continues to be scrutinized for whether and how it has downplayed the climate crisis, and how its ongoing pollution makes it worse, their relentless grip on too many politicians perpetuates corporate polluters’ harmful business-as-usual practices. We aren’t going to let Big Oil get away with it, and neither will a Biden-Harris administration.”

A pro-Biden ad, “Led The Way,” that LCV Victory Fund first ran online this summer, will also run as part of the cable buy. The 30 second spot contrasts Trump’s record with Joe Biden’s leadership on climate.

Additional ads in the digital buy include:

“Rollbacks” (15s)
“Catastrophic News” (15s)
“Catastrophic Defined” (15s)
Rollbacks – “Arctic” (6s)
Rollbacks – “Methane” (6s)
Rollbacks – “Cars” (6s)

The new ads are part of LCV Victory Fund and affiliated entities’ historic $100 million investment to defeat Trump, elect Joe Biden the next president of the United States, and elect climate and environmental justice champions up and down the ballot.

Full text of the 60 second spot is below.

“Make Them Pay” 

[Open on a rich oil executive outside his mansion. He’s practicing putting. He looks right at us with nonchalance as he continues to putt.]

Have you noticed that the world’s on fire?
Record heat waves? Does that worry you?
Well it should
Because this climate thing is your problem
And at Big Oil, we’ve made sure it’s not ours

[Cut to oil exec his living room. He’s shredding documents as he talks to us.]

40 years ago, when our own scientists predicted that burning fossil fuels
Could lead to ‘catastrophic effects,’
We spent billions to sweep it under the rug
No one needs to know that

[Cut to oil exec watching TV in the living room.]

We gave money to PR firms, marketers, invested in political campaigns
[Stops on Trump saying climate change is “a hoax” to admire him.]
Love that guy
Today he’s helping us do even more
Rolling back all those fossil fuel regulations

[Cut to oil exec at his long dinner table.]

At Big Oil, we’re going to be fine
But you might want to start a compost pile
Or stop exhaling so much carbon dioxide

[Cut back to oil exec in the living room.]

You’ve got a lot of work to do
Cause your kids are going to need it
Here’s to you, President Trump

[Oil exec raises glass to Trump on the TV]
Text on screen: Big oil knew. Big oil lied. We need a president that will make them pay.

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Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.