Five Greenpeace climbers evaded security and scaled a building at the centre of one of London’s busiest areas early this morning before unveiling the huge billboard-style banner, which has a large picture of Ken, Barbie’s on-off boyfriend, and reads: ‘Barbie, You’re Dumped. Girls That Threaten Furry Animals Make Me Sick.’
The guerrilla tactic follows revelations that the packaging for Barbie, the most famous toy in the world, is produced using pulp from the rainforests of Indonesia, home to endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger.
Teams of Greenpeace campaigners have also posted similar adverts on bus stops and on tube trains this morning.
Greenpeace investigators used forensic testing to reveal that Barbie’s packaging comes from Indonesia’s rainforests. They also used a combination of ‘in country’ investigation, mapping data and traced company certificates to show that Mattel, the makers of Barbie, along with other toy companies including Disney, are using packaging produced by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). APP has been exposed many times for wrecking Indonesia’s rainforests to make products such as packaging.
Yesterday, Greenpeace activists, dressed in tuxedos to mimic Barbie’s boyfriend Ken, scaled Mattel’s Los Angeles HQ with a giant banner reading: “Barbie: It’s Over. I Don’t Date Girls That Are Into Deforestation.”
Greenpeace forests campaigner Ian Duff said:
“The many thousands of people who come to Piccadilly Circus every day can’t miss our 100 metre square message highlighting Barbie’s role in rainforest destruction. And Mattel, who make Barbie, can’t ignore this either.
“Barbie is trashing rainforests and pushing critically-endangered wildlife, like tigers, towards extinction. Mattel must stop buying packaging from APP, a notorious rainforest destroyer which has been exposed many times for wrecking Indonesia’s rainforests to make throw-away packaging.
“Hopefully our guerrilla tactics will help save orang-utans.”
Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest destruction in the world. The Indonesian government estimates that more than one million hectares of rainforests are being cleared every year.
ENDS
A full dossier outlining the role of APP and Barbie in rainforest destruction is available here: www.greenpeace.org/app-toying-with-extinction
Contacts:
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255
Niall Bennett, Greenpeace communications: 07717 704577
Ian Duff, Greenpeace forests campaigner: 07801 212969
Greenpeace unveils UK’s biggest ever guerrilla advertising bid
100 sq m billboard in Piccadilly Circus launches campaign to get Barbie to drop rainforest destruction links
8 June, 2011
Greenpeace have launched what they hope will be the UK’s largest ever
guerrilla advertising campaign today in Piccadilly Circus, with a 100
square metre ‘billboard’ highlighting Barbie’s links to rainforest
destruction.
