IT was a stroke of marketing creativity bordering on genius: Celebrate the New Year with us and make history in the Philippines. Who would not want to be part of that event?
The Okada Hotel Manila was shooting for a place on the roster of the Guinness World Records and instead shot itself badly in the public relations foot. The intention was to have a New Year’s Eve celebratory drop of 130,000 balloons at the Cove Manila nightclub to a packed house. Unfortunately, the balloons did not show up, thanks to a public outcry.
Immediately upon the announcement a few days before the end of the year, the social media exploded with concerns about the environmental impact of disposing 130,000 balloons. An online campaign was launched by Climate Reality Project Philippines, joined by Greenpeace Southeast Asia—Philippines, Ecowaste Coalition and Save Philippine Seas, and in few days generated 63,000 signatories.
Cove Manila went into damage control and tried to placate the mob by assuring the public that there would be proper disposal of the balloons. However, when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources stepped in and asked Okada to stop the drop, the Battle of the Balloons was over.
The reality, though, is that 130,000 balloons create about 400 kilograms of waste. A study in 2011 found that the average urban Filipino produces about 0.7 kilograms of solid waste each day. So that 400 kg of balloons is about the same as what one person would throw away in a little over a year. So, if only 500 people attend the balloon drop, they would have used up their own one-day garbage disposal quota. Cove Manila can hold 4,500 guests.
But the amount of waste that the environmental groups were whining about is really not the issue, no matter how loud their voices might have been. We wonder if there would have been the same outcry and complaints if Okada had come up with another scheme.
Suppose the hotel had intended to give 130,000 Noche Buena meals to poor and underprivileged children, also including a single balloon in each meal pack to help them celebrate the New Year? Would the Climate Reality Project Philippines, Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, Ecowaste Coalition and Save Philippine Seas have started the same petition to “Ban the Balloons”?
We have no reason to criticize the efforts to have the balloon drop canceled, although we firmly believe that colorful balloons are nice for any celebration. The problem is that, in this day and age, we all must be aware and concerned with pollution and waste.
However, statements like “inflating and discarding 130,000 balloons for a few minutes of merriment of your highly privileged 3,000 guests, which, after the event, will likely be disposed of at a place where poor people live and work” are hypocritical in the big picture. Four hundred kilos of used balloons is not going to make much impact against the 8,500 tons of solid waste Metro Manila produces each day.
Nonetheless, it is probably beneficial that the 130,000 balloons did not get dropped. What would happen if some whiz-kid marketing person had happened to look up the world’s record for a New Year’s Eve bonfire made from used automobile tires?