Fans of brands and sports teams including Gymshark, Carlsberg and Aston Villa might notice something different about their favourite websites this Sunday.
This is because brands, sports clubs and NGOs across the UK are changing their logos as part of a WWF initiative to highlight biodiversity loss on World Wildlife Day, which takes place on 3 March.
The #WorldWithoutNature initiative has been organised by conservation group WWF and will see companies removing all images of nature from their logos and branding for the day.
The aim of the initiative is to drive awareness of nature loss by getting audiences to look twice at the well-known logos which, for one day only, will be empty of iconic nature images.
From leaves and plants to kangaroos, wolves, lions, tigers and the iconic panda in WWF’s own logo, many global species will vanish from people’s favourite brands for the day.
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Brands with no obvious nature in their logo are still able to take part by removing colour from their logo for the day.
Brands and clubs confirmed to take part this year include Air Wick, Aston Villa FC, Carlsberg, Gymshark, Hull City FC, Leicester Tigers, Liz Earle Beauty Co, Norwick City FC, Old Mout Cider, On The Beach, Sale Sharks, ScottishPower, Swansea City FC, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, among others.
Kate Norgrove, executive director, advocacy & campaigns at WWF, said: “We hope that our #WorldWithoutNature campaign will shine a light on the fact that nature both here in the UK and around the world is in crisis.
“We need people, now more than ever, to come together and help bring our world back to life. We are so grateful to many of the world’s best-loved brands and sports teams taking part and highlighting what a world without nature could really look like if we don’t act now.”
Sam Johnson, head of marketing for Carlsberg, said the brand was “proud” to be supporting WWF’s #WorldWithoutNature campaign by removing the hop leaf from its iconic logo for the day, across our social media channels.
“Carlsberg is a brand that is strongly committed to protecting the environment,” he added.
“That’s why we’re removing excess packaging from our small packs and improving the sourcing of the ingredients that go into our beer, as well as working in partnership with WWF to help UK farmers implement water-sensitive farming methods.”
A study earlier this year found that up to half of the Amazon rainforest could hit a tipping point by 2050, due to water stress, land clearance and climate disruption.
Last year WWF warned that supermarkets must step up as “time is running out” to meet its goal of halving the environmental impact of UK shopping baskets by 2030.
