Yoplait Yogurt Cups Have Been Killing Small Animals For Years

As designers, it is important to consider how long our work will be around and the different context it may be encountered in. A wholistic view of these impacts is important to keep in mind. Sometimes little things slip through the cracks of our perception which requires empathetic and proactive attention.

Small animals will stick their heads inside all sorts of discarded food containers to consume scraps of food, but classic Yoplait yogurt cups – the kind that have a tapered shape and foil lid – pose a special risk. They include an inside rim that makes it easy for an animal to stick its head into the cup, but nearly impossible to pull it out. 

General Mills, the marketer of Yoplait in the U.S., has known since at least 1998 that the yogurt cups have been killing wildlife, but the company has done little to alter the deadly design, Simon and other animal advocates say. (Hanson)

It is disheartening to see the constant disregard for our planet and wildlife wellbeing from large companies. This story is one example out of many where human waste causes detrimental effects for local wildlife. This may seem like a small issue, but the article goes on to explain,

Once an animal's head is stuck inside the cup, Simon explained, they're likely doomed to death from suffocation, or worse, from dehydration after days of not being able to drink. Sometimes animals that have their heads stuck in the cups will run blindly into roadways, which also poses a danger to drivers who swerve to avoid them. (Hanson)

It can feel like catastrophizing to say that the shape of a yogurt cup is a life of death situation, but with this ricochet effect, that is exactly the case.

...General Mills added an outside edge to the base of Yoplait cups, ostensibly to give animals leverage in pushing the cups off their heads, and added a small warning that reads: "Protect Wildlife Crush Cup Before Disposal." (Hanson)

Social pressure did bring a response from the company, but this is not enough of a solution. The way society is now, trash will always end up where it should not.

"Frankly, that just doesn’t cut it," said Simon, noting that the added edge doesn’t do much to assist skunks. The warning, she points out, is so small many people never see it, and it doesn’t explain how the cups actually pose a threat to wildlife. Moreover, compressing the cup is fairly difficult.

"I’ve tried crushing it," she said. "It’s hard to do, and then it just resumes its shape if you don’t really pound it. It’s not a good solution at all." (Hanson)

This example goes to show that environmental elements need to be in mind during the whole design process, not thrown on in the end like a bandaid.

Hanson, Hilary. “Yoplait Yogurt Cups Have Been Killing Small Animals for Years.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 24 Sept. 2015, www.huffpost.com/entry/yoplait-yogurt-wildlife-danger-skunk-cups_n_5602dde9e4b0fde8b0d0d5cf.