Zippo’s global campaign aims to counter deforestation
By Georgia Murray on Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Zippo’s ‘Fight Fire with Fire’ campaign pledges to plant a tree for each windproof lighter sold from the Fight Fire with Fire collection, to shine a light on the effects of wildfire. Starting with their first planting sites in Madagascar, globally renowned storyteller National Geographic has documented the first steps of the campaign.
As creators of one of the most famous flames of all time, Zippo is intimately aware of fire’s usefulness – a force of nature to be summoned at will. But this power, when wielded carelessly, can have devastating effects. Nowhere is this more evident than fire’s impact on forests across the globe, as wildfires destroy 4% of the Earth’s surface each year, with 84% as a result of human hand.
To help educate on the problem of wildfire and its causes, National Geographic and Zippo documented the first step of the project in Madagascar. As the world’s fourth largest island, it is a land mass that has had 90% of its original forests destroyed largely via ‘slash and burn’ methods.
With a shared sense of urgency to leave the planet in a better state and to put nature back into peoples’ lives, Zippo and WOODCHUCK USA will plant one tree for every lighter sold – starting in Madagascar – from the new Fight Fire with Fire lighter collection as part of the ‘Buy One. Plant One.’ programme.
The campaign is being launched by PR agency DeVries Global.