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Cambridge, Boston, MA--August 26, 2002 - Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the popular CAR TALK radio mechanics from NPR usually field calls about broken fan belts and noisy brake pads. But now they’re fielding a more difficult question; what to do with 3.1 million useless yogurt lids.

The lids are the result of a CAR TALK campaign being launched in collaboration with Stonyfield Farm, the NH-based yogurt maker known for its environmentally-conscious practices. When the CAR TALK guys thought about ways to get the word out on their "Live Larger, Drive Smaller" effort, Stonyfield Farm’s yogurt lids made an ideal platform. One problem -- the message to be printed on the lids was rejected in favor of a more ‘palatable’ choice -- but only after 3.1 million of the mini-billboards had been printed.

Here’s what happened.

When the CAR TALK guys decided to team up with Stonyfield Farm on the "Live Larger, Drive Smaller" campaign, they thought the lids, known in the past for touting environmental issues from Earth Day to clean water and global warming, would help to get new-car shoppers to think about the kind of vehicle they really need before making a purchase. Bigger vehicles, the brothers point out on their web site, tend to pollute more, endanger smaller vehicles in an accident, and lead to lots of split inseams from boarding passengers.

So why are the lids useless? The first batch of lids included the name of CAR TALK’s distributor, NPR. NPR, as an independent, journalistic organization, has a strict policy of not participating in advocacy campaigns, and said that the lids with the NPR name could not be used. "It's perfectly reasonable," says Ray. "My brother should have asked them first."

"Me??" says Tom. "You were supposed to ask them, Piston Puss."

So, while the campaign gets ready to launch, a new twist has been added. Not only has Stonyfield agreed to print corrected lids, but the guys now need to figure out what to do with two trailer trucks full of useless yogurt tops. The brothers have a few ideas, but are looking to their fans for creative suggestions.

"My vote was to reconstitute them into lightweight, Yugo transmissions," says Tom. "My brother thought we should donate them to NASA, so that when a civilization of really short people is discovered on another planet, we can befriend them by offering them Frisbees."

Stonyfield Farm President and CEO, Gary Hirshberg, had a few ideas of his own. "We could always create a new CAR TALK flavor and dedicate it to all the auto-crazed listeners of the show," he said. "How about ‘No Phony Red stuff ’? It would tout our all natural ingredients, AND allow us to use the 3.1 million NPR lids sitting in the warehouse!" Hirshberg added.

One listener suggests using the lids to construct an interplanetary space vessel to carry the major league baseball players and club owners to their very own planet where they can argue endlessly about the impossibility of living on less than $4 million a year.

Another suggests quilting the lids together and deploying the "quilt" in space as a large patch for the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.

The "Live Larger, Drive Smaller" campaign takes a friendly, funny approach to getting people to examine their car buying choices. "We want to be clear that we have nothing against people who drive SUVs. We have friends, wives and daughters who drive SUVs and who are perfectly nice people--for the most part," says Ray.

Adds Tom, "We just wanted to make the point that not everybody needs a huge SUV. If you’re not driving off road and pulling tree stumps every week, you may be able to get by with something smaller. For most people, an SUV is a fashion accessory."

"And unlike other, more harmless fashion accessories--like nose rings," says Ray, "There are lots of downsides to owning an SUV. They hog the road, they use up lots of fuel, and they endanger the rest of us in normal-sized vehicles."

The brothers have designed a quiz to help people determine whether they really need an SUV. They have also created a list of alternatives to the largest SUVs, many offering all wheel drive, good cargo room, and high seating position.

Meanwhile, for security reasons, the exact location of the lids is not being revealed. "We're afraid someone may steal them and put out 3.1 million containers of bogus yogurt," says Ray. In fact with Stonyfield Farm’s record on environmental business practices, the guys are really hoping some good ideas come in soon so the company doesn’t get any of those ‘re-usable’ ideas.

The Car Talk — Stonyfield Farm "Live Larger, Drive Smaller" campaign launched nationally on Saturday, August 17 on NPR’s CAR TALK radio show. Any individual with a lid suggestion can enter his or her ideas at the Car Talk section of cars.com. The contest runs through September 17. For more information on the "Live Larger, Drive Smaller" campaign, visit cars.com or stonyfield.com. For additional information and photos, see the CAR TALK press area at http://cartalk.cars.com/press-room.html

CAR TALK is a one-hour program broadcast each week on more than 500 NPR stations nationwide. Heard by over 3.7 million weekly listeners (almost one unusable lid for every listener!), CAR TALK has won broadcasting's most prestigious award, The Peabody, and has been lauded by the national media since its premiere in the fall of 1987.

A nationally syndicated twice-weekly newspaper column by Tom and Ray Magliozzi supplements CAR TALK. The column (CLICK AND CLACK TALK CARS) is distributed by King Features Syndicate and is carried by more than 350 papers. CAR TALK also produces an

award-winning web site, the CAR TALK section of Cars.com (http://www.cartalk.cars.com) that receives more than 400,000 unique visitors each week.

Stonyfield Farm is the nation’s leading producer of organic yogurt and a leader in corporate environmental responsibility. Spawned more than 19 years ago from an organic farm school that taught the importance of organic and sustainable agriculture, the company’s environmental mission remains a cornerstone of the company’s business practices. The company was the first dairy in the U.S. to pay farmers not to use the synthetic growth hormone rBST and employs a number of energy efficiency and other environmental business practices. Stonyfield Farm has won numerous awards for its environmental initiatives, including the recent decade award for Climate Change Initiatives from Renew America and The Dana and Christopher Reeve Environmental Leadership Award for outstanding commitment to establishing and maintaining cutting edge environmental business practices. The company also donates 10% of its profits to environmental causes that help to protect and support the earth. For more information about the company, its products and practices, call 800 PRO COWS or visit stonyfield.com.

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