The Plastic Problem

Martin Broad

Advertisers in the UK have started to place concerns about plastic in their marketing plans, with references to plastic and plastic waste up four-fold in TV and print communication year on year – and the impact brands can have on helping tackle the problem is only likely to evolve.
  • People in the UK throw away around 295bn pieces of plastic every year, and a plastic bottle alone can last for 450 years in the marine environment.
  • The BBC’s Blue Planet II series ignited a rise in awareness of plastic waste, and the issue is now on the agenda for governments, NGOs, advertisers and consumers alike.
  • New terminology has emerged around plastic, such as ‘circular economy’, which entails decoupling economic activity from consuming finite resources, and ‘compostable’, a term used to describe new plastic alternatives.
  • Advertisers should utilise pledges that are active and honest, educate consumers to...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands