Adam McKay and Woody Harrelson’s ‘Exxon’ video turns an El Niño warning into dark comedy
Yellow Dot Studios’ new video uses an imagined Exxon commercial to press its climate warning, following a letter signed by McKay and Harrelson.
Adam McKay’s Yellow Dot Studios has released a satirical Exxon-themed El Niño video featuring Woody Harrelson on YouTube, Deadline reported on October 21. Called ‘New Exxon El Niño Commercial,’ it brings the studio’s climate warning campaign into the form of a darkly comic advertisement.
Harrelson opens with a reassuring message delivered in Exxon’s voice, according to Deadline. The video then cuts to storms, an oil refinery, flooding, riots and wildfires, turning the familiar tone of a corporate commercial toward the dangers the studio wants viewers to consider.
What Adam McKay says the Exxon video is targeting
McKay told Deadline the video responds to oil companies acknowledging climate threats while deflecting responsibility. That is the point of the imagined Exxon message: its soothing opening gives way to images of disruption. The video is satire, and the company’s supposed message is part of that framing.
Yellow Dot managing director and producer Staci Roberts-Steele also issued a statement, Deadline reported, describing the studio’s aim to make entertaining work about fossil fuels and climate disasters. The new video puts that approach in a short format built around Harrelson’s voice and the turn from reassurance to disaster imagery.
How the video fits Yellow Dot’s El Niño campaign
The release follows an El Niño warning-letter petition that McKay launched earlier in summer 2026, according to Deadline. Yellow Dot’s published letter lists both McKay and Harrelson among its signatories, linking the two collaborators in a campaign that predates the video.
In that letter, Yellow Dot urges public officials to prepare for potential El Niño hazards. Its proposed steps include reinforcing riverbanks, increasing funding for firefighting and rescue services, bolstering power grids and improving beach warning systems. Those are requests from the studio, rather than measures announced by the officials it addresses.
The weather risk is part of the campaign’s context. Deadline cited an earlier NOAA estimate of roughly 70% odds that an El Niño event during November through January would exceed previous events dating back to 1950. That estimate explains the urgency of Yellow Dot’s appeal, while the letter sets out the practical preparations the studio is asking officials to make.
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Sources and context
- Adam McKay & Woody Harrelson Team For Darkly Comic “Exxon El Niño Commercial”Deadline
- El Niño Warning LetterYellow Dot Studios
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.