Helena's drive to save energy is just a washout

It has been proved time and time again that using celebrities is not necessarily the best way of changing our behaviour, and so I was very amused to discover that the former supermodel Helena Christensen has been signed up to exhort us to wash our clothes at 30C in order to save the planet. I wonder what bright spark at Ariel HQ dreamt up the campaign featuring Helena (in conjunction with the Energy Saving Trust) with the mantra "switching your dial to 30 degrees saves 40 per cent of the energy in every load of washing".

Not very glam, is it? And, try as I may, I cannot imagine Helena kneeling in front of a porthole stuffing underpants, tea towels, nappies and yucky babies' bibs into the front of a washing machine. Helena might be a savvy woman who does loads of work for charity; who owns a fashionable clothing shop in New York and who is a single mum, but I just cannot imagine her hanging out her smalls so that they can dry in the breeze and save on the energy wasted in using a tumble drier. Marks & Spencer has already announced that it is re- labelling three-quarters of its clothing ranges as washable at the lower temperature of 30 degrees. Somehow, I think that will change more people's behaviour than a pretty picture of Helena. But I agree, it's not as much fun for the executives involved. Perhaps Stuart Rose could ask her to go around his stores switching lights off...

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