Paramount Consumer Products and Nickelodeon Announce the Launch of the Global Ocean Conservation and Sustainability Initiative SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change

Multi-year campaign to launch with multiple nonprofit partners and consumer products

NEWYORK – Paramount Consumer Products and Nickelodeon announced their launch today SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change, a brand new global ocean conservation and sustainability initiative. Through partnerships with several nonprofit organizations, SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change aims to help remove and redirect five million pounds of ocean plastic over the next four years by funding cleanup projects. Also, Paramount Consumer Products will work with SpongeBob SquarePants consumer product partners to promote more sustainable practices and reduce single-use plastics in products, and manage partnerships with new brands to create innovative product lines . Additionally, this initiative will engage millions of SpongeBob fans around the world with real-life events and educational resources connecting them with ways to be part of the movement and take action in their own community.

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“Since its debut nearly 25 years ago, SpongeBob SquarePants has become universally loved for its contagious optimism and careless humour, but at its core, the series has always had an intrinsic connection to the sea that led us to launch. SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change to help protect the homes of the very creatures that inspired Bikini Bottom,” said Veronica Hart, Executive Vice President, Global Franchise Planning, Paramount Consumer Products. “With this initiative, we are not only funding change, but reinventing the way we do business by creating a connected global effort around sustainability, while creating the festival to honor the legacy of Stephen Hillenburg, marine biologist and SpongeBob SquarePants creator who is wholeheartedly committed to preserving our oceans and marine life.”

At launch, the program will mobilize a global network of nonprofit partners to advance the goals of SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change. These efforts, have been funded through grants from SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change Fund at Tides Foundation, aims to help protect oceans from plastic pollution and biodiversity loss through on-site clean-up events in cities around the world. Paramount Consumer Products will also work with licensing partners to launch SpongeBob-branded products with zero or less single-use plastic and engage consumers through education and information about conservation-focused organizations they can support.

Non-profit launch partners include:

• Baltimore’s Waterfront Partnership The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, in collaboration with government, business and community partners based in Maryland, specializes in cleaning and beautifying Baltimore’s waterways. The SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change The fund will support the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Ports initiative to fund garbage collection operations through 2023.
• Coral Restoration Foundation – Headquartered in Key Largo, Florida, the Coral Restoration Foundation was established in response to the widespread loss of the dominant coral species on Florida’s Reef. Since 2007, they have been working to turn the tide for this important ecosystem and SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change The Foundation will support their coral restoration efforts through 2023.
• International Plastic Ocean – The goal of this nonprofit is to promote sustainable communities and end plastic pollution around the world. They operate with the belief that they can and must act locally to create change globally, which they do through the four pillars of education, activism, advocacy and science. The SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change The fund will help fund plastic clean-up projects in Brazil, the Philippines, Mexico, Cameroon and Germany.
• Surfers against sewage – Surfers Against Sewage is a grassroots environmental charity advocating for the protection of the ocean and all that is possible. It was created in 1990 by a group of Cornish surfers, fighting to clean up the seas that were making them sick. Now, this UK-based marine conservation charity targets all threats to the oceans – plastic pollution, the climate emergency, industrial extraction and water quality. water – act from the start to trigger change from the top down. The SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change The fund will support Million Mile Clean, the most ambitious clean-up campaign to date, mobilizing more than 100,000 people to clean 1 million miles of urban and blue space in the UK every year.
• WORK – This organization supports plastic recycling collectors, helping them earn a well-deserved income, while diverting waste into the oceans and landfills. The SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change The fund will help fund responsible debt collection efforts in Haiti. Additionally, Paramount will partner with WORK to move plastic materials from the ocean to the first mile into the licensed consumer product supply chain, contributing to a more circular economy while cleaning the environment. .

Here are the Consumer Products partners launching in 2022 and early 2023:

• AKUA – This New England-based company is on a mission to create a foundation of delicious and nutritious products from a new and exciting form of food agriculture: regenerative ocean farming. AKUA and SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change will partner in 2023 to launch a branded kelp patty that will cut down on plastic packaging.
• Step of Consciousness – This Brooklyn, New York-based company designs and sells sustainably produced socks, sweatshirts, and candles to benefit leading nonprofits around the world. Each item is uniquely designed and embroidered to raise awareness of the cause involved, with a portion of proceeds going to be donated to bring about quantitative change. This fall, a line SpongeBob SquarePants Branded apparel will debut, with a portion of proceeds going to Oceana, a nonprofit ocean conservation organization.
• Munro . Shoes – This Australia-based company designs and sells shoes for boys and girls. Launched in early 2023, Munro Shoes will launch a SpongeBob SquarePants The branded collection uses recycled leather and has recycled packaging that doesn’t use plastic. These will be rolled out across Australia in all Williams and Mathers stores.
• Seaesta surf This sustainable children’s beachwear brand launched its Seaesta X SpongeBob partnership earlier this summer and will be expanding its partnership and participation SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Campaign Change in motion in 2023. Details will be announced later.
• thirsty – An apparel company that aims to use clothing to educate, inspire and support consumers to live a more environmentally responsible life. They will launch a product line featuring recycled fabrics made from post-consumer bottles. The collection will also donate to the Ocean Institute in California to support their K-12 marine science education program.

In addition, the Nickelodeon brand will use the full power of its multimedia ecosystem to promote SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change movement across its social, digital and linear channels. Fans can also log on to www.SpongeBobOperationSeaChange.com for more information about the initiative and its partners.

In 2023, this initiative will expand to include: new partnerships and products, additional short-form content that will help educate fans about the ocean plastic waste crisis as well as Onsite cleanup and activation will allow fans to participate. Details will be announced at a later date.

Since its debut on July 17, 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants reigned as the most-watched animated series for 22 years in a row, while creating a world of beloved characters, pop-culture catchphrases and memes, slides theaters, consumer products, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, and a global fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most widely distributed properties in Paramount International history, viewed in more than 170 countries, translated into more than 29 languages, and attracting an average of over 100 million viewers each quarter. SpongeBob SquarePants created by Stephen Hillenburg and produced by Nickelodeon in Burbank, Calif. The character-driven cartoon chronicles the marine and sometimes pointless adventures of SpongeBob, an incurable optimist and serious sponge, and his undersea friends.

Paramount Consumer Products oversees all licensing and sales for Paramount (Nasdaq: PARA, PARAA), a leading global media and entertainment company dedicated to creating premium content and experiences for audiences around the world. all over the world. Driven by iconic consumer brands, Paramount’s Consumer Products portfolio includes a wide range of brands and content from BET, CBS (including CBS Television Studios and CBS Television Distribution), Comedy Central , MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Showtime. With features that include animation, live-action, preschool, teen, and adult, Paramount Consumer Products is committed to creating the highest quality products for some of the world’s most loved, well-known brands. gender. In addition, Paramount Consumer Products oversees direct-to-consumer business for CBS and Showtime merchandise, as well as independently branded e-commerce sites for Star Trek, SpongeBob, South Park and MTV.