Up Up Hippo was a non-commercial mobile game and self-proclaimed “educational tool in a battle for clean and green Earth”. To play the game you need an empty plastic bottle; crushing it allows the player to control the protagonist of the game. The game was created by Deloitte Digital for PepsiCo Poland and, despite its relevant subject matter, should be considered primarily an example of ‘greenwashing’ by the soft drink industry but also exemplifies the ambiguities inherent in that label.
The hero of Up Up Hippo is a friendly, yet slightly clumsy hippopotamus, which needs help of several plastic bottles to move. By crushing a bottle, player helps the hippo to fly, swim, jump and eventually to complete the mission – dispose of the plastic bottle in the correct container. Children are supposed to learn that a crushed bottle takes up less space in a garbage bin and, while they are having fun, they are also helping the environment. Interface and graphic design are inspired by air and objects filled with it. The hippo is a balloon and the world of the game is full of inflatable objects. Game design implies that air from a crushed bottle creates ‘energy’ and fun.
