Corona has launched a cause marketing campaign leading up to World Oceans Day and the coming week that adds plastic trash to its own advertisements.
World Oceans Day is June 8 and spirits brand Corona, which uses the beach in its advertisements, decided to disrupt its own brand messaging to make a statement about pollution. Corona partnered with environmental activist group Parley for the Oceans to alter a series of existing ad campaigns and convey a message of trouble in paradise.
The World Surf League, sponsored by Corona, changed its name from “Corona Bali Pro” to “Corona Bali Pro-tected” as part of a five-year action plan to help Bali address its mounting problem of ocean pollution.
“As a brand that is synonymous with the beach, we are seeing the destruction of shorelines and oceans up close,” Felipe Ambra, global vice president of Corona said in a statement. “Our ads usually showcase paradise the way we assume it to be, pristine and beautiful, but today it’s increasingly hard to find a beach without plastic.”
In 2016, Corona launched a campaign called “This Is Living” that depicts picturesque beach and other outdoor settings, along with a bottle of Corona beer. Ahead of World Oceans Day, Corona is adding plastic trash to these outdoor images, as well as a question mark to the campaign slogan.
Corona has also installed billboards in London, Melbourne, Santiago, Bogota, Santo Domingo and Lima that depict actor Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok) surfing with the slogan “From where you’d rather be.” The brand then gathered plastic from nearby beaches to build sculptures on top of the billboards, transforming the blue ocean surf a “wave of waste.” A question mark was added to the slogan with the hope of spreading awareness.
The Australian installation weighs 1,500 kg (around 3,306 lbs), which is equal to the amount of plastic that enters Australia’s oceans each day, Corona said. In London and Melbourne, people can drop off their own plastic pollutants at the site of the billboard to be added to the plastic installation.
Parley for the Oceans and Corona have partnered to offer a series of limited-edition Hawaiian-style shirts that are made from recycled plastic. At first glance, the shirts feature traditional paradise imagery like ocean waves and fish but upon closer inspection, the design is made up of everyday plastic litter such as toothbrushes and plastic bottles. The shirt is being promoted by Hemsworth, with proceeds benefiting Parley for the Oceans’ conservation efforts.
