Woolworths bows to public pressure, replacing Ooshies campaign with green alternative

Woolworths will ditch ‘Ooshies’ in favour of a more environmentally friendly collectibles promotion which will encourage children to cultivate their own gardens.

The move, which comes amid public pressure over the environmental impact of its current Lion King-themed collectibles scheme, will go live next month in time to ramp up for the December quarter.

“Woolworths is excited to confirm that we will be launching Woolworths Discovery Garden in September, a new collectable designed to give Australians of all ages the opportunity to grow their very own fresh food,” the company said in a statement circulated Wednesday.

The promotion will be based on New Zealand supermarket New World’s successful ‘Little Garden’ promotion, although Woolworths has not shared many details yet on what exact form its own version will take.

Both Woolworths and rival Coles have come under fire in recent weeks over the environmental impact of their collectibles promotions, which have been released in various forms over the last 12 months, following the breakaway financial success of Coles’ initial Little Shop scheme last year.

A change.org petition calling on Coles to “stop giving out plastic junk” has received more than 70,000 signatures, while plastic items from Coles’ previous promotions have allegedly been found on beaches in Perth and Indonesia.

Woolworths’ decision to pivot towards a more environmentally responsible promotion signals a step change in its attitude towards collectibles following the success of its most recent Disney-themed venture.

It also comes amid reports from corporate analysts that supermarket shoppers could be suffering from so-called “promotional fatigue” heading into the all-important December quarter, as revealed by The Age.

Both Coles and Woolworths will front shareholders over the next few weeks to explain their performance over the last quarter.

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