In an attempt to seek reforms to offshore drilling, especially in the wake of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill, two advertisements have recently been launched – one by the Pew Environment Group; and the other by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which also has an ad for the radio as well.

The Pew Environment Group’s ad - appearing in Politico, Roll Call and CongressDaily - shows an oil-soaked pelican; and carries the message: “Help stop this from happening again. Change the law.”

The ad further cautions that oil spill disasters, like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, might easily happen again unless a change is introduced in the laws that essentially allowed the disastrous event to occur.

Meanwhile, the more extensive API ad – which describes oil and natural gas as “vital domestic resources” that power the human way of life – will feature across leading publications over the next two weeks.

The papers in which the API ad appears include The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Gulf Coast newspapers and Beltway publications.

The API print ad: “The people of America's oil and natural gas industry are working to help BP and the authorities respond to the spill. Clearly, there will be lessons to be learned, and we are fully committed to doing everything humanly possible to understand what happened and prevent it from ever happening again.”