Xmas Coke ad spoofed

Coca-Cola has launched its new ‘Holidays are coming’ Christmas TV advertisement – but some of the brand’s fans have been viewing a version that’s a little more realistic.

In a bid to take advantage of Coke’s huge PR push at this time of year, Greenpeace produced its own Coke Christmas ad, launched on the same day, highlighting an unfortunate side-effect of bottled fizzy drinks.

Don’t let Coke choke our oceans

The video shows a montage of happy family Christmases, with spookily familiar music and lots of subtle signs that all is not quite as it should be.

Just out of shot, a red-lit truck casts its rosy glow on the celebrants as it passes by. The final scene shows the lorry – a large dump truck laden with plastic waste – driving across a beach and into the surf. The Santa-suited driver tips his load into the sea and throws the Coke bottle he is drinking from after it.

The film’s final message reads, ‘A truckload of plastic enters the ocean every minute. Coca-Cola produce an estimated 110 billion plastic bottles a year. Many of these end up in landfill, on beaches & in the ocean. Don’t let Coke choke our oceans.’

The problem with plastic

Elena Polisano, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK, explained that we produced more plastic in the last 10 years than during the entire twentieth century, and less than 10% of it gets recycled. The packaging of products we use for a matter of seconds lasts for centuries.

She added that 16 million plastic bottles enter the environment each day in the UK alone, and many of them end up in our oceans where they choke sea life and gradually break down into plastic dust that spreads throughout the food chain, from plankton to your plate.