United Airlines named Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch as its first Chief Trash Officer as he and the airline celebrate his love of rubbish. United Airlines' new, consumer education campaign is designed to promote the expected benefit of using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) more broadly.

The new campaign – which features Oscar in more than 30 pieces of original video, digital, social and out-of-home content – follows the iconic character's journey from job listing to c-suite office starring alongside real United employees.

SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel alone. SAF is being made from used cooking oil and agricultural waste, and, in the future, could be made from other feedstocks including household trash or forest waste.† To date, United has invested in the future production of over three billion gallons of SAF – the most of any airline in the world.* 

Consumers can take action too – in a first among U.S. airlines, United now shows an estimate of each flight's carbon footprint on a per economy seat passenger basis on its app and website, and travelers have the option to contribute to supplement United's investment in the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund, a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle designed to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing air travel by accelerating the research, production and technologies associated with SAF.

Starting today, people can follow Oscar's journey as he stars in videos alongside real United employees. The integrated campaign includes interactive social-first elements, colorful spreads in Hemispheres® magazine and a unique film series, all of which were created to simplify a complicated topic in an approachable and entertaining way.

 Creative highlights include:

• Film Series: Across multiple videos, United highlights Oscar's work in his new role, such as a "BINtro" film showcasing his first day on the job. The film is part of a series that focuses on the importance of SAF. In an additional 90-second film, United Captain Tomica Adams breaks down how things like waste can help fuel air travel
• Out of Home: United's out-of-home content introduces the airline's new hire in a larger-than-life format. The playful imagery features Oscar in aviation settings – from tarmac to onboard. The photos will pique people's interest about how trash could one day help us fly toward a lower carbon future**
• Digital/Social: Providing surround sound to the campaign, storytelling continues on social channels with bite-size edutainment videos, engaging Instagram Story features, emoji-filled Twitter threads and more to raise awareness of the SAF nitty-gritty. The social campaign will live on owned and paid social and digital channels

As a part of the collaboration, United Airlines is supporting Sesame Workshop through a donation to the nonprofit educational organization's Welcome Sesame initiative. Sesame Workshop will also be included in United Airlines' Miles on a Mission, where travelers will be able to donate miles to help support its global mission to help children grow smarter stronger and kinder.

United will continue to bring this relationship to life for our customers and for the communities we serve, with more to come in the months ahead. For more information, visit united.com/ChiefTrashOfficer.

* Based on publicly announced airline offtake agreements for future purchases of SAF.
† SAF currently must be blended with conventional jet fuel to meet regulatory requirements for use within the aircraft.
** The use of SAF in combination with conventional fuel in accordance with current blending requirements results in lower carbon emissions on a lifecycle basis than conventional fuel alone. SAF is less than 0.1% of United's overall fuel use