Where sustainability becomes art

Picture of four people being awarded for their artworks
Helene Hartenstein and Luka Herzog (2nd and 3rd from left) won first place in the competition. (Photo: PepsiCo)

Since March 2022, PepsiCo, Pepsi Max and the WWF have set themselves the task of making the beverage manufacturer more sustainable and reducing or even completely eliminating plastic packaging. A poster competition is now being held to further promote the sustainability debate in society.

Bild von einer jungen Frau vor einer Wand mit unterschiedlichen Plakaten
Sandrina Karl in front of her poster "Time to think". (Photo: Simone Sever)

Sandrina Karl discovered the call for entries for the sustainability competition of the SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences and the Pepsi Max brand via the internet. Now, her entry hangs with 99 other works by various creatives in the exhibition rooms of the Hafenstudio in Hamburg’s Hafencity. The 24-year-old proudly has her picture taken in front of her design and her very personal perspective on the theme. A total of 20,000 euros in prize money awaits her.

The creative potential of the 100 works is impressive. The ideas are complex. The approaches are as varied as the climate crisis is present. Sometimes, you see female superheroes, which we urgently need, then mountains of plastic waste floating in the water like an iceberg and only the small tip is visible. Sandrina Karl’s contribution, “Time to think!”, shows a skull filled with rubbish.

About 60 vernissage visitors study even the smallest details attentively. Selecting the winners is no easy task for the jury, which is made up of Torben Nielsen, Managing Director D-A-CH of PepsiCo, Gabor Kovacs, Professor of Digital Product Development at SRH, and Watson sustainability editor, Josephine Andreoli. But the jury team finally managed to award prizes to the three most successful implementations. A humorous, provocative, challenging or analytical poster dealing with the climate crisis and sustainable packaging, this is what they were searching for.

Making sea

Image of an artwork showing the shape of a Pepsi bottle in the middle of a plastic and waste littered sea
The impressive poster on the topic of "Plastic in the Ocean" convinced the jury. (Photo: PepsiCo)

The winners have now been announced. Third place goes to Alexander Rozmann with his Titanic-like iceberg made of single-use plastic. Second place goes to “Papier das doch mal!” (Which roughly translates to “Paper That!”) by Konstantin Weid who is pleased with the graphic realisation of his message. You have to look closely because the “that” portion of the piece consists of a disposable cup, packaging remnants and plastic film, the rest is, of course, made of paper.

Drum roll for Helene Hartenstein and Luka Herzog, who are able to convince not only the jury but also the audience with their poster idea, “Making Sea”. Their work impressively demonstrates how PepsiCo focuses on recycling and shows a free area of sea in the shape of a Pepsi bottle in the middle of a carpet of marine litter. Making the sea!

Sandrina Karl was not able to take one of the first places. Nevertheless, she can be proud of having made it into the 100 exhibition works. And so, the winners of the evening are not only the prize winners, participants and the guests. The winner in the long run is the environment, which was not the focus of attention for the last time that evening.

http://www.pepsico.de

http://www.wwf.de

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