A recent TV ad released by the American Petroleum Institute bears a striking resemblance to the opening credits of the HBO show Last Week Tonight, a fact that did not go unnoticed by host John Oliver in the show's most recent episode.

The ad, which aired on NBC during the Olympics, uses the same sparse graphic style and fonts as Last Week Tonight's credits. It was released as part of an API campaign seeking to generate public opposition to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires ethanol to be blended with gasoline.

Oliver played the ad for his audience then, just to drive home the point, played it again overlaid with his show's theme song.

"You have so thoroughly copied our credits that by the end of that ad, I was honestly worried I was about to watch 29 minutes of a rat-face Englishman telling me sad news facts," Oliver said.

Oliver went on to mock other API ads, including one of two young people talking about energy policy. The late night host then showed a skit riffing on the ad, in which two millennials watched as a cartoon polar bear committed a lewd act with the API logo.

The original ad can be viewed and downloaded from API's website at http://bit.ly/2aXxbUu

This was not the first time Oliver has clashed with associations. Just last week, Newspaper Association of America CEO David Chavern chastised the late night host for a segment mocking the financial troubles of the newspaper industry. Last year, Oliver encouraged viewers last year to fill out crude form letters that were then to be sent to Career Education Colleges and Universities, an association representing for-profit colleges.

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