Greenpeace takes aim at Nestlé's 'chief plastics officer' in parody ad
Greenpeace has launched a fresh attack on what it claims are Nestlé's "unethical" production methods and negative environmental impact.
Greenpeace video parodies Nestlé’s plastic monster
Nine years after the chocolate manufacturer was at the receiving end of a parody Kit Kat video from the charity, criticising its use of palm oil, it has launched another scathing campaign against the brand.
After the 2010 video went viral, the pressure Greenpeace led Nestlé to announce it would cut off palm oil suppliers linked to deforestation.
Now, Greenpeace is using its platform to openly scold the chocolate brand for producing 1.7 million metrics tons of plastic packing in 2018. This was a 13% increase from 2017.
Produced by People's Television in a vein of light satire, the social video introduces a fictional Nestlé employee: the 'chief plastics officer.'
After a physically exerting game of squash, he heads to a vending machine for a drink and its quite clear that the materiality of the vessel carrying his refreshment is not on his mind.
As he mindlessly waits for his water bottle to drop, he comes face to face with a menacing, plastic-spewing vending machine monster.
Although handled with humour the video ends with a poignant wake-up call. Using footage shot during Greenpeace's recent ship tour in the Philippines, including an image of a man wading through a sea of plastic waste.
Greenpeace began its 'Plastic Monster' initiative back in March when it went to the Philippines. Shocked by the level of plastic pollution caused by multinational companies, it created a plastic creature from the rubbish it collected and shipped it back to where it came.
Nestlé and Unilever have been named as the top plastic polluters in the Philippines, based on a series of waste audits done there by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.
Discussing the social video, Greenpeace's project leader Mirjam Kopp said: “Nestlé has created a plastic monster and it’s time it dealt with it. It claims to take the plastic pollution crisis seriously, but, its actions don’t back that up: Nestlé continues to increase its reliance on throwaway plastics. It’s time for Nestlé to phase out single-use plastics across its supply chains and embrace systems of refill and reuse.”
