The ChangeTheImage campaign of “Philip Morris Bulgaria” brought together over 35 representatives of business and local administration for a discussion in Haskovo and the opening of the first exhibition of the initiative in the city.
One of the most serious pollutants in the urban environment is improperly disposed cigarette butts. It is enough to leave our home and at the very first step we will inevitably encounter cigarette butts scattered on the street outside the household waste bins. Despite their small size, cigarette butts are one of the biggest polluters of the environment, with between one and two-thirds of them ending up outside of designated disposal sites, according to global studies.
That is why, for three years now, through the ChangeThePicture campaign, “Philip Morris Bulgaria” has been directing the focus of consumers across the country in exactly this direction. The newspaper “Maritsa” and the advertising agency “Hermes Media” have been an active partner of the initiative since its inception, which organized both the event and the exhibition in Haskovo.
PromeniKartinkata is an information campaign with various initiatives, exhibitions, discussions and special projects aimed at raising awareness in society about the problem of pollution from cigarette butts. In addition, the initiative is part of the company’s global strategy for sustainable development. The inclusion of Haskovo is another step towards turning Bulgarian cities into a cleaner place.
The official opening of both the discussion and the exhibition was given by Rusana Pashova – director of advertising at “Hermes Media”, who reminded that ChangeThePicture has already achieved great success with several initiatives in Plovdiv, and the completely logical step is to make these good practices and experience transferred to other cities in the region.
“What we are proud of is that the first national campaign was in Plovdiv. It was realized with an innovative and provocative exhibition, where we told with photos and visual materials how polluted our cities are and gave practical solutions how each from us can contribute to living in a cleaner urban environment,” Pashova explained.
She reminded that “Hermes Media” and “Maritsa” newspaper have not only been an active partner of a number of similar campaigns for years, but also organize their own initiatives aimed at ecology, improving the cleanliness of the urban environment, as well as limiting pollution and raising awareness. to society about the problems associated with improper waste disposal.
“It is important for us to support such causes, because our city is our home. The Philip Morris Bulgaria campaign is based on a number of data and facts, which we at Maritsa, through the platform we have, try to make as much as possible widely accessible to the audience and citizens throughout the country. For us, this is a personal cause. The media must have a social role in the topics and processes that are important to society,” said Rusana Pashova.
The ChangeThePicture event in Haskovo is actively supported by the Municipality of Haskovo, and especially for the beginning of the information campaign, the mayor Stanislav Dechev came, who explained that he is extremely happy that the city is becoming part of the campaign. “Haskovo will always support any such idea that helps make our city cleaner,” he assured. The mayor reminded that it is the duty of every citizen to keep the place where he lives clean, and explained that one of the priorities of the local government is exactly that – for Haskovo to be one of the cleanest cities in the country.
“I’m glad that we’ve all matured to the idea that cleaning up a space is good, but it doesn’t solve the problem. The most correct thing is to turn to people with similar initiatives and together protect the place where it lives. If everyone we keep it clean, there will be no need to invest so much money for cleaning”, explained Dechev, who thanked “Philip Morris Bulgaria” and “Maritsa” for their active position on the subject and that, together with the Municipality, they did everything possible for the exhibition to reach the residents of Haskovo.
On behalf of Philip Morris Bulgaria, Anelia Ivanova – public relations manager in the company, as well as one of the most active ambassadors of the campaign – TV presenter Iva Ekimova, were present. Ivanova explained that the support of local partners and organizations is extremely important, and thanked “Maritsa” for the commitment from the very beginning of the campaign. She added that real change comes from people, therefore it is important for PromeniKartinkata to engage as wide a range of local partners and citizens as possible to become ambassadors of the cause and provoke responsible consumer behavior.
“I want to thank Haskovo, in the person of the mayor, Mr. Dechev, for including the campaign. For us at Philip Morris, the city and the region are extremely important, and because here for nine consecutive years through the “Fun Summer, Caring Autumn” program, implemented by foundation “Bikoz”, supporting young entrepreneurs, as well as providing free medical care for the elderly and supporting education as part of the support for tobacco-producing regions.”
Anelia Ivanova explained the three main goals of the ChangeThePicture campaign – to inform about the serious global problem related to the pollution of the environment and urban environment with cigarette butts; to provoke responsible consumer behavior, and most importantly – to stimulate positive change for the protection of the environment.
The ambassador of the campaign, Iva Ekimova, explained that the personal example of each one is very important, because it educates the next generations. “It is our duty to involve and inspire people to treat the environment with care and responsibility wherever they are,” she added.
After the official part, all the guests viewed the exhibition, which even on the first day managed to provoke the attention of hundreds of local residents, and the organizers promised that this was only the beginning of the campaign initiatives in the city.
The exhibition can be seen in the center of Haskovo until May 24.
Tags: Haskovo requested ChangePicture
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