Heidi Montag has been applauded for making a joke about ‘single-use jeans,’ in order to create awareness of the everyday pollution caused by single-use plastic bottles.
Earlier this week, the 35-year-old actor posted an advertisement for S1NGLES Jeans, who created the “world’s first single-use jeans,” on Instagram.
“No more shrinkage. No more fading colour. Just good vibes. You’ll always look your best because you’ll only wear @S1NGLESJEANS once,” Montag wrote in the caption.
In the comments, many Instagram users criticised The Hills star, noting how single-use jeans were not at all “sustainable” or “helpful for the environment”.
On Thursday, Montag revealed on Instagram that her advertisement for S1NGLES Jeans was actually just a joke, as a way of drawing attention to how “single-use plastic bottles” need to be eliminated, due to the harm they cause to the environment.
In the caption, she also announced her partnership with Oceana, which is “dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans on a global scale,” according to its official Instagram bio.
“Single-use jeans are as stupid as the single-use plastic bottles polluting our oceans,” she wrote. “I’m partnering with @Oceana to ask soft drink companies to stop using single-use plastics and switch to refillable bottles. Join our #RefillAgainmovement. #ad.”
Fans have expressed how relieved they were that Montag wasn’t promoting single-use jeans and applauded her newest partnership.
“Ohhh so it was satire! I love this ad! Speaks volumes!” one Instagram user wrote.
“YES!! I knew you would not promote something that ridiculous and there had to be a catch!!” a comment reads.
Another fan added: “Smart. And now you know who the trolls are! Thanks for shocking us and starting the conversation. This was a playful way to bring serious issues to light and I appreciate it.”
Oceana posted about Montag’s prank as well, acknowledging how satire could be a way of encouraging people to “switch to refillable” bottles.
“How can you get a world overwhelmed with – and used to – single-use plastic bottles to see how much more sense it makes to switch to refillables?” the company wrote in an Instagram post. “By launching a new throwaway product that shows just how bad an idea it is to use something once made to last a long time. Thanks @HeidiMontag for joining this fight to protect our oceans from single-use plastic pollution by bringing refillable bottles back.”
According to its petition, which Montag has encouraged fans to sign, the Refill Again Movement is “ demanding that major soft drink bottlers and companies” give customers “the option to buy their product in a refillable bottle instead of a throwaway single-use plastic bottle.”
On Refill Again’s official website, the campaign says: “Single-use jeans are a bad idea, just like single-use plastic bottles.”
The site also noted how “only 9 per cent of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled.” With that in mind, the movement is encouraging the use of refillables in order to “help solve the plastic pollution crisis facing our oceans.”
