Lights Camera Plastic
Lights, Camera, Plastic eliminates single-use plastics on-screen and normalizes sustainable alternatives. Why? Because media shapes cultural norms around waste.
The Problem
With 1 million plastic water bottles discarded each minute and 500 million plastic straws discarded each day, we need to change norms around single-use plastic.
What people see on television and in film impacts their beliefs and behaviors. When disposable coffee cups, plastic water bottles, takeout containers, straws, and other single-use plastics appear on screen, they reinforce the idea that waste is normal.
Sociology and psychology experts agree that film and television reinforce what is or isn’t acceptable to our collective society. Single-use plastic use on-screen therefore normalizes our throw-away society.
“Social scientists agree that there are profoundly important relationships between motion pictures and human behavior.”
Franklin Fearing PhD “Influence of the Movies on Attitudes and Behavior”
“The motion picture is not a fixed pattern of meanings or ideas which are received by a passive mind. Rather he takes from the picture what is usable for him or what will function in his life. The stuff of films is action, movement, characterization, conflict, expressed in swiftly changing images… (The view-er) utilizes the pictured situation in the process of coming to terms with the larger environment. This is the conceptual framework within which the significant analyses of the effects of motion pictures and other mass media of communication on behavior and attitudes must occur.”
Franklin Fearing, PhD Psychology, UCLA
Our Solution
We are asking studios, productions, prop houses, actors guilds, and more to use sustainable materials on-screen.
Research shows that media influences peoples’ attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. When characters use reusable items and make eco-friendly choices, they become the norm for audiences around the world.
It’s as simple as swapping a plastic water bottle for a metal one, using reusable cutlery and plates, and never showing single-use plastic on screen!
Impact
We have been incredibly successful with Lights, Camera, Plastic, with all major Hollywood studios adopting the protocol, including Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros, Disney, HBO, and more.
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