Honest Tea asks consumers to pay with honesty

#RefreshinglyHonest Project features donation to VisionSpring

Bethesda, Md.-based Honest Tea Inc., a division of The Coca-Cola Co., is encouraging Americans to take their first step to living a little more honestly by sharing their hashtag #RefreshinglyHonest moments on social media or at pop-up locations across the country.

The hashtag #RefreshinglyHonest Project is a fresh take on the brand’s annual National Honesty Index and invites consumers to celebrate the moments when we offer a break from the seemingly perfect world we live in to share our truth in exchange for the “a-ha” moment when we realize everyone else is “just like us” — perfectly imperfect, the company says.

Through Aug. 3, Americans can participate in the hashtag #RefreshinglyHonest Project in one of two ways:

1) Find Honest at one of its pop-ups happening in 15 cities across the United States
2) Share a hashtag #RefreshinglyHonest moment on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag

Participants visiting Honest Tea’s pop-ups will have a chance to submit a #RefreshinglyHonest moment as currency in exchange for a bottle of Honest Tea. For each moment submitted at the pop-ups or on social media, Honest Tea will donate $1 to VisionSpring, an organization which provides vision screenings and eye glasses to underserved communities worldwide. Information will be collected at each location, including what Americans divulge when offered the chance to be honest.

“At Honest Tea, we believe in celebrating honesty both in the ingredients we put into our bottles and how we live our everyday lives,” said Ami Mathur, general manager and head of marketing at Honest Tea, in a statement. “We’ve taken this message to the next level this year through the #RefreshinglyHonest Project to further encourage people to take this journey with us.”

VisionSpring and Honest Tea have partnered since 2014 to bring vision screenings and eye glasses to Honest Tea’s sourcing communities in Assam, India. Since its inception, this partnership has resulted in more than 9,000 vision screenings, with eyeglasses distributed to all who required them, the company says.