Guildford Businessman in ‘Middle Finger’ Christmas Protest At Coca Cola

Published on: 23 Dec, 2022
Updated on: 29 Dec, 2022

By Hugh Coakley

A Guildford businessman has delivered a Middle Finger sculpture made from plastic cola bottles to Coca Cola’s flagship store in Covent Garden with the Christmas message, “Pick Up Your Crap”.

GUNNA Drinks CEO, Melvin Jay, delivered a cheeky Christmas message to Coca-Cola on Sunday, December 18. Photo Simon Jacobs/PA Wire.

The sculpture toured London’s iconic locations, including Trafalgar Square, Westminster and Oxford Street accompanied by protesters dressed as marine wildlife to show the impact these bottles are having on animals and the habitats they call home.

Melvin Jay, founder and CEO of Gunna Drinks, whose office is in Ward Street, Guildford, said: “It is time for the big soda companies to take responsibility for picking up their own crap and stop polluting our planet!

“They could easily switch to cans or glass, but unfortunately these companies seem to love money more than they love our planet.

“This has to stop, so we are asking everyone to take a stand against plastic waste.”

This follows the launch of a petition to ban the use of single-use plastic bottles for soft drinks by Jay. His company says it is a carbon-negative brand and one of their environmental initiatives is to use cans instead of plastic for their drinks.

The Middle Finger plastic cola bottle sculpture toured Central London with the message “Pick up your crap.” Photo Simon Jacobs/PA Wire.

The police arrived at the protest after a report from the store but no action was taken. Jay told The Dragon: “The police said as long as we didn’t get any complaints from the public they would not have cause. People thought it was very funny.”

The police attended the protest but no action was taken. Jay said the public “thought it was very funny”. Photo Simon Jacobs/PA Wire.

A GUNNA spokesperson said: “In the UK 7.7 billion plastic bottles are used each year, with the average person in the UK now using 150 plastic bottles every year – that’s more than three a week. Many are discarded, and end up polluting our rivers and seas. 83% of the plastic packaging waste we throw away in the UK comes from food and drink packaging.

“We have pledged to be carbon negative and eliminate twice the carbon we create, making us the UK’s most carbon-negative craft soft drink.”