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Heal the Bay: Trash Your Friends, Not the Ocean
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April Fool’s cyber-prank puts spotlight on very real problem – plastic pollution
SANTA MONICA, CA (Tuesday, March 30, 2010) – As part of its ongoing efforts to rid the oceans of the plastic pollution plague, clean-water group Heal the Bay is encouraging Americans to trash their friends on April Fool’s Day – well, not literally, but virally.
An alliance of leading environmental groups has joined Heal the Bay in launching a nationwide online campaign on April 1 that allows participants to playfully “trash” a friend’s Facebook page or any other webpage with floating images of plastic bags.
The initiative is aimed to raise awareness about the economic and environmental harm caused by Americans’ addiction to one-use plastic packaging.
To participate, individuals visit the campaign’s website and send an email tease to unsuspecting friends and co-workers. When recipients click on a link embedded in the friend‟s email message (“Dude, I trashed the front page of your Twitter”), the targeted page quickly and harmlessly fills with images of single-use plastic bags.
(To see slide show of sample “trashed” pages and email links, click here.)
“This April Fool’s Day prank is a fun way to bring attention to marine debris, but the effects that plastic bags have on our oceans and economy are no joke,” said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, a leading environmental group based in Santa Monica.
The growing amount of trash in our oceans is choking marine life, crippling regional economies and diminishing quality of life along California shorelines. Millions of tons of plastic debris sit off the California coast, harming hundreds of animal species that mistake plastic items as food.
Local municipalities spend tens of millions of dollars each year to collect and dispose of plastic debris that wind up in local watersheds. The visual blight caused by tons of carelessly discarded plastic bottles and food packaging also hurts the state’s $43 billion beach tourism economy.
“The deluge of plastic pollution in our open spaces is like a virus, spreading through the ocean uninvited and unannounced,” said Kevin McCarthy, group creative director at the Los Angeles office of ad agency DDB, which devised the campaign for Heal the Bay. “The campaign forces people to think, and really feel what it’s like to have their own personal environment trashed by plastic bags.”
DDB’s Regie Miller and Sarah Bates fashioned the creative, working with Culver City-based production company The Famous Group on a pro-bono basis.
As part of the viral initiative, individuals are encouraged to take action by sending a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to support AB 1998, a state bill that would ban plastic single-use bags. Oceana, Surfrider Foundation, Global Green and Environment California are among the organizations disseminating the campaign.
For more information on the economic and environmental costs of single-use bags, click here.
About Heal the Bay
Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean. We use research, education, community action and advocacy to pursue our mission.
Contact: Matthew King, Heal the Bay, (310) 451-1500, x 137 or (310) 850-1145 cell
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