Innocent drinks has been under fire for producing a “greenwashing” advertisement by plastic pollution campaigners.
Activists have filed a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with claims that the advert titled “Little Drinks, Big Dreams” was environmentally misleading.
The advert features a man and an otter whose boat is hijacked by people who sing about “messing up the planet”.
Once the man and otter row back to safety, pick up the rubbish and turn apples on the trees into Innocent smoothies which they drink as they “fix up the planet”.
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“The launch of Little Drinks, Big Dreams is an important moment for us,” Innocent chief executive Douglas Lamont said.
“It gives us a platform to talk about the many fantastic initiatives within the company – from carbon reduction to recycling, sustainable farming and helping people and communities – sharing information and what we’ve learned along the way and hopefully inspiring others.”
However, activists have argued that purchasing Innocent’s single-use plastic shouldn’t be conflated with being eco-friendly.
Plastics Rebellion member Matt Palmer said: “Greenwashing is dangerous – in the case of Innocent it’s one thing to hide your ecocidal practices, that’s bad enough, but to go to the next level and pretend you’re ‘fixing up the planet’ is far worse.”
“It means that people will willingly – and unwittingly – opt in to support your project in the belief that they are doing good for the planet.”
Plastics rebellion have highlighted that Innocent was owend by CocaCola, which has been the most littered brand on British beaches.
Additionally, the group said Innocent created 32,000 plastic bottles as hour which contributed to marine pollution.
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