Ken, Barbie And Deforestation
Is it really all over for Barbie & Ken?
Greenpeace activists dressed as Ken recently rappelled off the roof of the Mattel headquarters in Los Angeles, California, to drop a multi-story banner bearing Ken’s face and declaring,
“Barbie, it’s over! I don’t date girls that are into deforestation”.
Another activist dressed as Barbie drove a pink bulldozer onto the site, apparently ready to stand her ground.
What do you think?
I’m against the deforestation, and especially so when it’s happening just to create disposable packaging.
But did and do Greenpeace go too far with their protests?
If Barbie didn’t get the message, then let’s hope Mattel executives will because Mattel has a big problem in its supply chain.
Research by Greenpeace reveals that Mattel has been buying paper for packaging linked to notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
APP is responsible for more forest destruction on Sumatra than any other company and they’re showing no signs of stopping even as endangered wildlife like Sumatran tigers, elephants and orangutans are pushed to the brink of extinction.
Greenpeace does push the bounderies but maybe they tried the soft sell which didn’t work.
It is pretty safe to say that most parents don’t want to buy toys for their children that are wrapped in rainforest destruction.
Why then does Mattel wrap toys like Barbie in packaging full of rainforest wood?
Instead, why don’t they have a global paper buying policy to prevent this sort of thing?
Maybe Mattel executives should spend a little less time thinking about their next marketing campaign, and a little more time thinking about the sort of world they’re leaving behind for the kids that they’ll want to sell toys to!