More than 180 people joined the Philip Morris Bulgaria initiative in the fall of 2021 and collected a total of 620 kg of cigarette butts and other waste in five Bulgarian cities

Tens of thousands of cigarette butts are littered every single second in the world which take between 3 months and 15 years to degrade. To alert about this problem, in the summer of this year Philip Morris Bulgaria launched the #Changethepicture information campaign designed to raise awareness about cigarette butts littering and promote responsible consumer behavior.

The campaign started with provocative visuals placed in 40 beaches of the Bulgarian Black sea coast and in the fall volunteer cleanup drives were organized in 5 Bulgarian cities: Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Varna, Burgas and Ruse.

Some 180 volunteers – Philip Morris Bulgaria employees, media partners and supporters from the local municipalities – took part in the drives and collected a total of 620 kg of cigarette butts and other waste from the city beaches and parks.
On 18th September 2021, the World Cleanup Day, a one-month exhibition of #Changethepicture poster boards opened in the central city park in Plovdiv.

The campaign continued in Sofia with the launch of a #Changethepicture exhibition in the park of the National Palace of Culture in front of Cabana Movie Theater with the support of Standard Daily. The poster boards showing attractive visuals and data about the cigarette butt littering was displayed for viewing from 22nd November to 5th December 2021. The exhibition was organized in conjunction with the municipal government.

The information campaign will continue in the spring of 2022 with local cleanup drives in Sofia and the country entitled “#Changethepicture in your neighborhood”.

“We are used to seeing cigarette butts everywhere as one in four smoked cigarettes ends up discarded in the park, the street or on the beach and not in the trash can”, said Dilyana Yakova, regulations and sustainability manager in Philip Morris Bulgaria, at a media event where the results achieved and the plans for expanding the campaign were presented. “We believe that it is our responsibility to change the public attitudes regarding this issue and to effect a change in the consumers’ behavior in order to tackle the issue. This is the overarching goal of all our initiatives and activities in the country forming part of the #Changethepicture information campaign.”

In the spring of 2022, the initiative will continue with a call to change the picture in the neighborhoods of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. Celebrities who identify with the cause of the campaign will issue an appeal for action as part of the #Changethepicture in your neighborhood. The singer Ruth Koleva, the writer, musician, and radio DJ Gery Turiyska, the journalist and radio DJ Niki Kanchev and the PR expert Iva Ekimova are some of the prominent figures to join the campaign.

“What won me over in the #Changethepicture campaign is that it is designed to prompt people to consider what they leave behind. The campaign messages remind us that “We will be gone, but the littered waste and cigarette butts will stay”, Niki Kanchev pointed out to the event guests.

Iva Ekimova, who joined him on stage to endorse the initiative, added: “I have supported the campaign from the very start. #Changethepicture promotes deeper understanding of the messages and the concept. In my professional career I have learned one thing – the big change starts in the smaller communities. I believe that if each and every one of us shows due regard for nature and the environment, then together we can certainly change the picture.”