We all need a laugh. More so in dark times.
That’s the reason Sue Big Oil is launching a series of satirical videos on our social media channels about the fossil fuel industry and its record of deception.
You’ll meet Vlad the vampire — CEO of Suncorpse — who got into the oil business after millennia of dealing with other bad actors. And Tank Hightower, head of Imperious Oil, pictured below, who wants to capture carbon with his bare hands.
We’re thankful to Toronto-based Artists for Real Climate Action who completed the 12-part series called Big Oil Alliance last year and have generously allowed us to repurpose it for Sue Big Oil’s social media campaign.
Liisa Repo-Martell is an actor, writer, producer and climate activist who founded the group. She first put out a call to fellow creatives after seeing the alarming conclusions of the 2018 report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“It said we have 12 years left to cut our emissions in half or face irreversible climate catastrophe.”
Soon after, Artists for Real Climate Action was born.
The group spotted a request for climate comedy proposals from the Montreal-based Trottier Family Foundation.
This was around the same time that the industry front-group “Pathways Alliance” came into being and launched wall-to-wall national advertising claiming the oilsands were on their way to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Pathways Alliance represents Canada’s six largest oilsands companies, all operating in Alberta: Canadian Natural, Cenovus, ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor.
“As a new propaganda arm of big oil, it seemed ripe for satire,” recalls Repo-Martell.
They used the Trottier Foundation grant to create the darkly funny Big Oil Alliance series that Sue Big Oil will be sharing with its supporters. We encourage everyone to watch and share the full series available on the Big Oil Alliance YouTube channel and look for it on Sue Big Oil’s social media feeds.
“Most people are suspicious of big business so the series resonates with viewers,” she says.
“It’s better to laugh than to cry…Laughing together makes instant comrades no matter what your political stance is.”
In satire like this, bad guys are painted as kind of evil. Let’s laugh, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that these industry CEOs act in this way because the system is set up to reward them, and their shareholders, without requiring them to pay for any of the costs that their products are imposing upon our communities. Sure, being angry is one reason to Sue Big Oil. But an even more important reason is to change the financial incentives that rewards this type of awful behaviour.
Other activists in Canada and around the world are using satire to spread the word about climate disinformation being peddled by governments and industry, alike. There’s Juice Media of Australia, The Goose here at home, and even an Instagram account aimed at kids called L’il D’Bunk (@lildbunk).
It’s easy to see why. Like Vlad the vampire, Pathways Alliance appears to have risen from the dead, in a big way, with a national advertising campaign telling Canadians they will suffer dire economic results if its member companies aren’t allowed to expand.
“Big oil is telling Canadians that our wellbeing is based on continuing to produce fossil fuels. It’s just bananas and demonstrably untrue,” says Repo-Martell.
The encouraging news is that renewable sources of energy now make more economic sense than fossil fuels, she adds, “And that’s the message that needs to get out.
If you’re sick of the climate deception and eager to see climate polluters held accountable, join over fifteen thousand British Columbians in calling for local governments to make big oil pay its fair share of local climate costs by signing our Declaration.
Written by Erin Ellis
Published on October 28, 2025