In mid-2023, as the UK faced a deepening cost-of-living crisis, oil and gas companies were preparing to announce record-breaking Q2 profits. Meanwhile, millions of households struggled to afford basic necessities. The timing was galling, and the contrast between corporate profit and public hardship couldn’t have been starker. Global Witness needed to respond fast. The objective wasn’t just to criticise fossil fuel giants, but to do it with enough bite, speed and cultural relevance to capture public attention and media headlines - all with just five days to turn it around.
In reactive campaigning, timing is everything. And in this case, there was already a provocative media moment making headlines: an OnlyFans model, Eliza Rose Watson, had caused a stir by plastering London billboards with images of herself in lingerie to confront the stigma around sex work.
We saw an opportunity to hijack that conversation and use it to expose an even greater public obscenity: the enormous executive bonuses being paid out by fossil fuel CEOs while the public was freezing.
