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For Immediate Release
August, 21 2008, 04:00pm EDT
Contact:
Daniel Kessler, Greenpeace media officer
970.690.2728
Wall*E + Kleenex = Iron*E
What:
Celebrated animator Mark Fiore and Greenpeace have teamed up to create
a short animation to parody the release of Kleenex boxes featuring the
popular character Wall*E. The piece highlights the biting irony of the
world's largest maker of disposable tissues, Kimberly-Clark, using a
children's movie with a strong environmental message to sell a product
made of "virgin" fiber clearcut from ancient forests and containing no
recycled content.
UNITED STATES
What:
Celebrated animator Mark Fiore and Greenpeace have teamed up to create
a short animation to parody the release of Kleenex boxes featuring the
popular character Wall*E. The piece highlights the biting irony of the
world's largest maker of disposable tissues, Kimberly-Clark, using a
children's movie with a strong environmental message to sell a product
made of "virgin" fiber clearcut from ancient forests and containing no
recycled content. In this new spoof, our hero Wall*E is wandering a
devastated future world when he stumbles upon one of his robot
predecessors: a demonic machine named Kleer*E bent on clearcutting
forests to create Kleenex brand tissues. In song and dance, Kleer*E
reveals why Wall*E lives in a world without forests, wildlife or people.
When: Released today: Thursday, August 21, 2008
Where:
www.greenpeace.org/wall-e. There, online activists can also tell
Kimberly-Clark executives that they need to improve their environmental
practices by using recycled material and staying out of Endangered
Forest regions.
Why:
There's a secret that Kimberly-Clark does not want you to know: Every
Kleenex tissue is made from ancient forests. In fact, the tissues
contain no recycled fiber at all. None. Instead, Kleenex is made from
trees up to 180 years old cut from ancient forests that are up to
10,000 years old. These forests are home to eagles, bears, foxes and
endangered caribou that are losing more habitat with every box of
Kleenex bought. Despite
mounting pressure Kleenex's parent company, the Kimberly-Clark
Corporation, has been unwilling to improve its practices, continuing to
rely on paper and pulp made from clearcut Endangered forest, including
North America's Boreal Forest. Kimberly-Clark clears these ancient
forests, essential in fighting climate change and providing home to
wildlife like caribou, wolves, eagles and bears, to make products that
are flushed down the toilet or thrown away. Greenpeace has directly
communicated with Kimberly-Clark employees at various company outlets
asking them to take action, worked to get Kimberly-Clark products
removed from 12 universities, and issued a report last year, Cut &
Run, which details Kimberly-Clark's continued devastation of the
Kenogami Forest. Greenpeace demands that Kimberly-Clark:
- Stop purchasing virgin fiber from endangered forests including the North American Boreal forest
- Drastically
increase the amount of recycled fiber, in all products, including
Kleenex brand toilet paper, facial tissue and napkins - Only buy
virgin fiber from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) eco-certified
forests. The FSC is the only guarantee that forests are managed
sustainably.
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
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