Universal Pictures is taking a unique approach in promoting their upcoming animated film, The Lorax, based on the Dr. Seuss tale by the same name. Instead of the usual cheap plastic Happy Meal toys, the film, which features an environmental message at its core, will be built up through a number of tie-ins with environmentally-friendly products and services, including low-power appliances, green household products and even eco-tourism.

The Environmental Protection Agency will use the main character to feature appliances which carry the Energy Star label, while Seventh Generation will use a “Lorax approved” seal on their household products. The Hilton hotel chain, meanwhile, will use the film’s characters to promote their Double Tree eco-tourism destination in Costa Rica, and Amsterdam’s Hortus Botanicus botanical gardens will create a special Lorax-themed path through their flowers, plants and endangered trees.

The film and the book that it’s based upon feature the eponymous Lorax, a make-believe character who speaks for the trees. Set in a desolate future, the story is told through flashbacks of how over-industrialization destroyed an ecological paradise when the Lorax’s warnings were ignored. The film, which stars Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift, arrives in theatres March 2.

Tags: epa lorax, seuss lorax, seventh generation lorax, the lorax

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