Adam McKay Releases Darkly Comic Exxon El Niño Spot on YouTube
Filmmaker Adam McKay has put a darkly comic commercial on YouTube, and it takes aim at Exxon. The video, headlined "New Exxon El Niño Commercial," went up on 21 October 2026, the day the first El Niño storm of the winter arrived, according to Deadline.
The spot opens like a cheerful corporate advert. Then the pictures change. Stormy skies roll in, a refinery pours out smoke, and a hurricane hits an offshore oil platform. Floods, riots and wildfires follow. Woody Harrelson narrates, and his voice is easy to pick out.
El Niño is a periodic warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean. It can shift rainfall and storms across much of the world. In the spot, that natural event is the backdrop for a pointed message about who is to blame.
McKay told Deadline that oil companies such as Exxon were acknowledging the El Niño threat by ducking and deflecting responsibility. He is the director of Don't Look Up, the 2021 satire about a global environmental disaster.
The commercial follows a petition McKay launched earlier in summer 2026, called the El Niño Warning Letter. Signers included Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jane Fonda, Rory Kennedy, Rainn Wilson, Javier Bardem, Hannah Einbinder, Chelsea Handler, Daryl Hannah and Mandy Moore.
The timing matters because of the forecast. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated about a 70% chance of a historic El Niño for November through January, one stronger than any since 1950. Daniel Swain of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources said that by mid-October the event had already become the strongest on record by almost any measure.
This is not McKay's first attack on an oil company in advertising form. In 2022, his production company, Hyperobject Industries, made a nearly two-minute spoof ad aimed at Chevron, and it was the only video on the company's new YouTube page at the time, Deadline reported. The new spot continues that approach, using the look of a polished commercial to make its point.
Exxon is not shown making any statement in the video itself, and the spot is McKay's work, not a paid placement by any company. The video is available to anyone with a YouTube account, free of charge.
