Not On The High Street, the UK’s home of small creative businesses, has today rolled out billboards highlighting the landfill issue caused by bad Christmas gifting.
Research by the brand revealed a startling 3,088,345 bad Christmas gifts were thrown away this year and ended up in landfill, and this yuletide, Not on The High Street are on a mission to ensure festive gifts do not end up in the bin – again.
The research showed that eight in ten people have received a ‘bad gift’ at Christmas with 55,393,286 bad gifts given in the UK last year – although only five in ten of us admit to giving poorly.
To demonstrate the enormity of the issue, the small business champion has created three visually impressive 3D special builds, which have been erected in London’s Westfield Shepherd’s Bush and Vinegar Yard and Manchester’s Salford Chapel Street and will be live for two weeks.
Each billboard encourages consumers to think before they gift this year.
The first – ‘Don’t’ Gift Landfill’ – is at the iconic Westfield London’s Pump Station, to vividly demonstrate the issue of unwanted Christmas gifts going into landfill.
The installation features a giant Perspex box filled to the brim with the sort of unwanted festive gifts that get binned, including photo frames, home furnishings, candles, plant pots and vases.
The second, ‘Don’t Gift Big Biz’, is up in London’s Vinegar Yard. It is crammed with cardboard boxes to represent this festive season don’t give in to giving the same mass produced items from giant online retailers, but support small businesses who need it the most.
And ‘Don’t Gift Boring’, in Salford, Manchester, replicates a giant sock draw to highlight the 3,973,050 pairs that went unworn in the last year as well as the topping charts for the most unwanted gift for Brits, according to research from Not On The High Street.
All items in the ‘Don’t Gift Landfill’ and ‘Don’t Gift Boring’ billboards will be donated to Crisis, who support the homeless and aim to better support those suffering.
Rob Halkyard, Executive Director of Brand, Marketing and Fundraising at Crisis, said: “We are extremely grateful for the support of Not on the High Street this Christmas. It is only because of support like their Don’t Gift campaign and their generous customers that we are able to be here for people experiencing homelessness, both at Christmas and all year round, to help them rebuild their lives and put homelessness behind them for good.
“At Crisis this Christmas, we’ll be supporting thousands of people experiencing rough sleeping or living in insecure accommodation – such as hostels and B&Bs – across England, Wales and Scotland, providing food, advice and support as they begin their journey out of homelessness. The valued support from Not on the High Street will help us to continue to support people in starting their life beyond homelessness this Christmas.”
Leanne Rothwell, CEO of Not on The High Street, said: “With the festive season almost upon us, it has never been a more important time to scrutinise our gift giving and how our waste has an impact on the planet.
“ We know expenditure will be less this year with the cost of living crisis, so we want to make sure if you do wish to purchase gifts this festive season, you aren’t going to waste money or add more waste to the world.
“This is why we have launched these bold out of home experiences to highlight the issues bad gifting is having on our planet and we hope our Don’t Gift Guide will help customers find the perfect thing for whoever they are buying for.”
The billboards mark the launch of Not On The High Street’s ‘Don’t’ Gift Guide’ – a curation of hundreds of items from small businesses with the aim of helping consumers gift fewer, and better, this festive season and ensure presents are treasured for years to come.
