Brita Subvertisement: a gift that dropped into our laps tonight!
Please don’t let me interrupt the conversation happening on the previous post. I’ve been reading your comments, even though I don’t really have time to respond right now. But I just had to jump in and tell you about a wonderful gift that the Take Back The Filter campaign received today.
First, have you seen the Brita filter ads discouraging bottled water that go “X minutes in/on the XYZ, Forever in the landfill”? For example, a woman on a treadmill with a disposable plastic water bottle that goes, “30 minutes on the treadmill. Forever in a landfill.” If you haven’t, it might be worthwhile to check them out here.
First, I am not disparaging Brita’s campaign. If it’s helping to slow the sales of bottled water, I am all for it. But as you know, the plastic Brita filters are also not recyclable, which is why we started the Take Back The Filter campaign to urge Brita to create a way to recycle the filters, as the original Brita company is already doing in Europe.
(Wouldn’t it be nice if Brita would make a public announcement that they plan to have a take-back program in place by a definite date? Hint to Brita PR people who might be reading this blog.)
Well, today, independent videographer Jeph Foust of Studio Freshh Audio Video Storytelling gifted us with a brand new “subvertisement” that he and his wife Dorothy put together this morning in support of the campaign. It’s already up on YouTube.
This video was a complete surprise. While I was at home this morning, taking my shower, feeding the cats, watering my plants, Jeph and Dorothy were at work creating this beautiful gift for our campaign. Of course, it’s going to go up on the Take Back The Filter website this weekend when I do an update, but I just couldn’t wait to let you all know about it. Wow. I’m just so grateful and amazed at how our actions can ripple out into the world.
So feel free to forward the video on, embed it in your web page, e-mail it, stumble and digg and whatever it is that you do to let people know about cool things. AND please leave a comment on the YouTube site in support of the campaign!
Then continue with the awesome conversation that’s been going on since yesterday. Clif, I laughed at your sleep comment because, in fact, that’s exactly what I’m trying!
interesting video. there is always a motive question when a company profits from this sort of thing but the video does effectively convey its message
Susan: Oops! I think it might be too late to fix it at this point, but I’ll forward your comment to the video creator and see what he thinks.
one quick comment from this copy editor about the video’s message: The pronoun should be ITS, not THEIR. As in “Please urge Brita to recycle ITS filers responsibly.”
Sorry, this stuff jumps out at me. :) Susan
Hi, I’m an occasional reader who has moved to Germany after 5 years in IL. I live in a city with very “hard” water and, to avoid ruining my kettle and my pots, have to filter it. Here we can buy cheap-o universal filters; they fit both Britas and whatever competitor is out there. They are easy to open up. Just twist off the top when it’s getting too full of minerals and pull out a paper-like sack (can’t tell if it’s really paper, but it rips like a wet teabag) and either dump that into the compost bin, or take out the grains of… whatever it is… and use it to fertilize plants. So I am composting the innards and am recycling the plastic casing, because recycling in Germany is reliable. Just thought you might be interested to know that the insides can be used for something good!
Hi Beth,
Youtube is a valuable tool for your type of campaign. Over here, Mrs Green has done a few home based ones. Hopefully, when we start a superstore package to container campaign, video will show others how to follow suit.