The Energy Crisis and the Media: Mobil Oil Corporation's Debate with the Media 1973–1983

Abstract

During the 1970s, Mobil Oil Corporation launched a public relations effort that set off a clash of titans—with the oil company on one side and the nation's media on the other—over who would set the agenda for public debate on energy policy. Although the campaign's purposes fell within the traditional schema of public relations, the way the company carried it out set a new benchmark for corporate communications. By taking on media giants such as the New York Times and CBS via contentious issue advertising, the corporation broke away from traditional and more diplomatic media relations efforts and pioneered a public relations approach involving an aggressive attempt to influence media coverage and public opinion. The company tried to tell journalists and the public how to think about energy issues by establishing itself as an expert and editorial commentator and then aggressively refuting what it perceived to be unfair or inaccurate news media coverage. This article examines Mobil's uncompromising engagement with the media as a means of “encouraging public debate” and controlling that debate.