Marketing Climate Obstructionism: Fossil Capital, Conservative Discourse Coalitions, and Social Media Advertising

In Canada, fossil capital has increasingly used networked Facebook accounts circulating ‘extractive populist’ narratives to oppose climate policy. These extractivist discourse coalitions increasingly intersect with broader, increasingly radicalized right-populist coalitions. Yet in recent years some industry campaigns have rejected populism in favor of ‘Climate Capitalist’ narratives celebrating Canadian climate initiatives as justification for increased exports. We explore these developments through a Network Discourse Analysis of sponsored Facebook posts by prominent pages promoting extractivist and right populist messaging. We examine ad buys as a form of connective leadership that spreads extractivist messaging while integrating users into extractivist and right populist movements.