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Polina Zabrodskaya, who has judged Cannes Lions twice and has seen how these awards get decided shared her take about Britannia's  Cannes-Winning Sustainability Campaign in a social media post. "Here’s my honest opinion: most jurors just aren’t qualified to judge sustainability campaigns — they have neither the time, nor the knowledge to understand what’s in front of them. They see a beautiful case study that sounds somewhat convincing and vote for a Lion."

In her Substack piece titled "I Fact-Checked This Cannes-Winning Sustainability Campaign. It's Bullshit," Polina Zabrodskaya analyses Britannia’s Cannes Lions entry ‘Nature Shapes Britannia’. The campaign, which claimed to save six trees by designing billboards around them and projected the potential to save 20,000 more, is called out as a hollow performance of climate action. Zabrodskaya remarks, “One day, ad awards entries will be taught in universities… ‘Vanity Metrics: When Climate Action Became Performance Art.’”

She scrutinizes the company’s 302-page sustainability report and highlights several contradictions. While the campaign touts water recycling, she notes, “Britannia’s absolute water withdrawal almost doubled in a year – from 564,843 kL to 1,012,259 kL,” in one of the world’s most water-stressed countries. The use of renewable electricity is also questioned, as “energy consumption from non-renewables jumped… the share of renewables went down by 6%.” CO₂ emissions across all scopes increased significantly, with Scope 3 emissions alone rising from 2.5 million t to 4.25 million t.

On plastic neutrality, Zabrodskaya writes, “Nobody really knows what’s behind the mysterious phrase ‘responsibly processed’,” and adds that “plastic waste generation increased from 3,398 MT to 4,858 MT.” She concludes that Britannia expanded its climate impact while allocating just “0.5% of total capex to environmental/social projects.”

Despite these numbers, the campaign flaunts “149x return on campaign investment” and massive engagement metrics, prompting Zabrodskaya’s final critique: “So much for ‘adapting to nature’s needs.’”

Polina Zabrodskaya’s article got overwhelming support on her takedown of Britannia’s Cannes-winning sustainability campaign, while also expressing broader disillusionment with the advertising industry's performative greenwashing and the awards culture that enables it.

Storyboard18 reached out to both Britannia and Talented for their official statement on the greenwashing allegations. The following is a joint response from Britannia and Talented.

"As an organization, we are at the nascent stage of our sustainability journey. Our intent with this campaign was to share with our consumers that we are taking deliberate, albeit small steps toward a more sustainable future. While we understand that we are far from being a benchmark in sustainability, our goal is to be transparent about our progress and inspire collective action."

"The report evaluated in the mentioned post  is the statutory document of Britannia - Annual Report. We would like to bring your attention to our Sustainability Report, published last year, which provides a detailed explanation for the observed increase in the numbers. This increase correlates with the expansion of our scale of operations and an extension of our reporting boundary. Over FY 23-24, we added three facilities to our reporting scope, including our plants in Barabanki, Tirunelveli, and our dairy plant in Ranjangaon which got completely commercialised."

"Importantly, if we compare the resources used against FY22-23 operations alone, the data on water intensity, plastic and emissions remains consistent, reflecting our ongoing efforts to optimize resource efficiency. Any observed variations arise due to a shift in the production mix, which is a natural outcome of dynamic operations."

"We remain committed to continuous improvement. Each year, as our operations scale, we strive to be more mindful of the resources we use and the impact we create. Sustainability is not a destination but a journey, and we are dedicated to making meaningful strides along the way."



Britannia and Talented respond to greenwashing accusations

Indian agencies won three Lions on Day 2 of the ongoing Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Dentsu Webchutney picked up a Gold Lion for VICE World News’ 'The Unfiltered History Tour' campaign in the Digital Craft category.

Byju's got a Silver for its 'Masterji' campaign in Entertainment Lions and DDB Mudra won a Silver Lion too. The agency won the metal in the Industry Craft category for 'A Silent Frown' campaign for the Charlie Chaplin Foundation.

On Day 3, India agencies have added a total of 50 shortlists to the kitty. Here are the campaigns that are competing for Lions across Direct, Creative Data, Media, PR, Social &amp; Influencer categories:

Creative Data Lions

Ogilvy India got two shortlists for Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Shah Rukh Khan - My Ad’.

https://youtu.be/R3FnhpelBR0

Direct Lions

This year, India got nine shortlists in Direct Lions.

Ogilvy India picked up two shortlists for Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Shah Rukh Khan - My Ad’.

FCB India, Kinnect Mumbai, and FCB Chicago got three shortlists for SOS Children's Villages India's ‘Chatpat’ campaign.

https://youtu.be/vIm7oxT9hHw

FCB India along with FCB Chicago also grabbed two shortlists for the campaign ‘The Nominate Me Selfie’ for The Times of India. FCB India's work 'Unbox Me UNAIDS' for UNAIDS is also shortlisted.

McCann India received one shortlist in this category. The agency bagged it for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank’s Shagun Ka Lifafa campaign.

Media Lions


India has a total of 12 shortlists in Media Lions.

FCB India and FCB Chicago picked up six shortlists - three for The Times Of India's ‘Nominate me Selfie’ campaign; and three for SOS Children’s Village India’s campaign ‘Chatpat’. This campaign was done in collaboration with the network’s digital agency Kinnect.

Ogilvy India also got three shortlists in Media Lions. Two for Cadbury Perk’s ‘Perk Disclaimer’ campaign, and one for Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Shahrukh Khan - My Ad’ campaign.

BBDO India received two shortlists. One each for P&amp;G’s ‘Name Change Pack #ShareTheLoad’ and ‘See Equal #ShareTheLoad’ campaigns.

Mindshare got shortlisted for Sunlight Detergent's ‘Bring Colors Back in the Lives of the Weavers’ campaign.

PR Lions


SOS Children’s Village India's ‘Chatpat’ campaign by FCB India and Kinnect India got three shortlists. FCB India's ‘Unbox Me’ campaign done for Unaids picked three shortlists too.

VMLY&amp;R India’s campaign ‘Adeli’ done for Unipads has received three shortlists.

BBDO India's work ‘See Equal Share The Load’ for Ariel has two shortlists. Dentsu Webchutney and Ogilvy India has got one shortlist each. Webchutney picked for its ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ campaign and Ogilvy India for ‘Nothingcoin’

Social &amp; Influencer Lions


Indian agencies added a total of 14 shortlists in the Social &amp; Influencer category.
Dentsu Webchutney's ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ for VICE World News got five shortlists.

Ogilvy India has one shortlist for Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Shahrukh Khan - My Ad’ campaign.

FCB India and Kinnect campaign ‘Chatpat’ for SOS Children's Villages India's got four more shortlists. FCB India’s campaign ‘Unbox Me’ for UNAIDS has bagged three shortlists. The agency has also received one more shortlist for the ‘Nominate Me Selfie’ campaign for The Times Of India.

INDIA AT CANNES LIONS