Coles' popular plastic collectible giveaways targeting children are no more, with the supermarket giant announcing last week it would cease the marketing campaigns as part of its new Sustainability Strategy.
Coles Group said that from July 25, it would launch a national campaign to celebrate its new Sustainability Strategy as part of its ambition to be Australia's most sustainable supermarket.
Coles recently stopped selling single-use plastic tableware and said that following a review of the sustainability of its marketing campaigns, it has committed to no longer giving away plastic collectible toys.
The hugely popular campaigns such as Little Shop and Stikeez saw plastic toys exchanged for money spent in store, usually one toy for $30and came with costly add-ons such as storage containers.
But wihle popular with children, the program was problematic for parents and drew the ire of environmentalists who argued most ended up in landfill.
The Sustainability Strategy under the pillars of "Together to Zero" and "Better Together" highlights Coles' aspiration towards zero waste, zero emissions and zero hunger.
Coles announced in March emissions targets including a commitment to be 100 per cent powered by renewable electricity by the end of the 2025 financial year and addressed its ambition to reduce its impact on the environment.
This includes looking for opportunities to reduce unnecessary plastic.
Coles will continue to explore reward programs that inspire and offer value to customers, such as the recent MasterChef cookware campaign, which provides practical items for customers to use in their homes, or last year's popular Little Treehouse book series made from FSC certified paper.
Coles chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson said while collectible toy programs such as Little Shop and Stikeez were popular with customers in the past, they no longer aligned with Coles' sustainability ambitions or with customers' preferences and priorities.
"While very popular, we must listen to our customers who say their priorities are changing," she said.
"In a recent survey of 9000 of our customers, reducing waste to landfill and plastic packaging was the number one concern when it comes to environmental issues in retail, with 69 per cent of those surveyed saying it was of high importance to them,."
"We know that customers will understand the need to ensure our campaigns are more sustainable for future generations.
"We are proud to be now using our marketing platforms to raise awareness of our sustainability ambition which is focussed on acting together now for generations of Australians ahead.
"Our ambition is to be Australia's most sustainable supermarket, which means we need to be committed to reducing unnecessary plastic, and this extends throughout our business.
Clean Up Australia chairwoman Pip Kiernan applauded Coles for being true to its word regarding sustainability.
"We are really encouraged to see Coles making meaningful changes to all parts of their business," she said.
