Dive Brief:
- David Sikes, bass guitarist with the band Boston, has signed on to a campaign to convince Yoplait to change its container design.
- The tapered containers — wider on the bottom than they are on the top — pose a threat to small animals, according to activists. When the containers are discarded, small animals stick their heads in to eat the remains of yogurt. But getting their heads in is much easier than getting them out.
- Yoplait has faced calls to redesign its packaging for more than a decade, and the company has added messaging urging consumers to crush the cups to protect wildlife.
Dive Insight:
Apparently, the call for Yoplait to change its containers has been going on for 15 years. We have to admit that we had no idea. This particular controversy seems to have flown under our radar. We're sorry! We love little animals as much as anyone, but we must have had our heads stuck in a — sorry, forget we said that. That was a bad choice of words.
At any rate, after 15 years you might expect that this is a battle the activists will never win. But we have to disagree. The ability of consumers to force change has grown at an exponential rate in recent months. What was once hard to change, now seems easy — and Yoplait may face a public-relations problem from using Boston's music in a recent ad.
We have a feeling Yoplait will cave in soon.
Actually, it's more than a feeling...