Celsias Team
One hundred and eighty new Barbies are sold every minute around the world. So you want to know it's good. And a recent Greenpeace International investigation has revealed that Barbie is involved in rainforest destruction, a Greenpeace International investigation has revealed.
The doll’s packaging comes from the rainforests of Indonesia, home to endangered species like the Sumatran tiger.
Greenpeace activists, dressed in tuxedos to mimic Barbie’s boyfriend Ken, last week scaled Mattel’s Los Angeles HQ with a giant banner that read: “Barbie: It’s Over. I Don’t Date Girls That Are Into Deforestation.”
The activity in Los Angeles marked the start of a worldwide Greenpeace campaign to end toy companies’ involvement in deforestation in Indonesia.
Greenpeace investigators used forensic testing to reveal that Barbie’s packaging comes from Indonesia’s rainforests. A combination of ‘in country’ investigation, mapping data, and work in tracing company certificates was used, to show that Mattel, the makers of Barbie, are using packaging produced by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a company which has been exposed a number of times for its involvement in the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests to make throw-away packaging.
“Mattel, which makes Barbie, must stop wrapping the world’s most famous toy in rainforest destruction, supplied by APP. APP is bad news for Indonesia’s forests. It treats Indonesia as nothing more than a vast disposable asset, grabbing rainforests that are vital to forest communities. Mattel must stop buying packaging from APP and instead support responsible Indonesian producers.
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. This loss not only threatens the survival of some of the world’s rarest animals, but is also a major contributor to climate change,” says Greenpeace .
Last month we had a look at Mattel's sustainability strategy which was very light on specific action and maybe now we understand why. Their website told us that "Mattel's sustainability strategy is focused on helping the company minimize its footprint throughout the value chain and across the organization, and emphasizes the importance of personal commitment in business as well as everyday practices and processes. First, by "designing it" with the end in mind, Mattel is focused on exploring opportunities for sustainability in the design of products and packaging; "making it" with eco-efficiencies that allows the company to identify opportunities to gain efficiencies and reduce environmental impacts through the manufacturing and distribution of its products; and by "living it" with the personal commitment that the company is fostering a culture of sustainability, which inspires employee-led grassroots initiatives.
We were sceptical because their tangible examples of initiatives were far too small and limited for a company of this size and we were more than slightly suspicious of an element of greenwash . We didn't think that was good enough for the producer of a number of iconic childrens toys. Seems its nowhere near good enough .
Come on, Barbie. We deserve better!
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