Downton Abbey Cast Laughs Off Water Bottle Gaffe on Instagram

The stuffy aristocrats of Downton Abbey have a sense of humor after all.

Last week, an uncropped publicity photo of Downton Abbey characters Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael) revealed an embarrassing anachronism: a plastic water bottle that was clearly out of a place in a show set in the 1910s and ’20s.

After much mocking — the incident sparked its very own Internet meme — the hit program appears to be taking it in stride. Several members of the cast “embraced ‘water bottle-gate'” Saturday and posed with water bottles on Instagram in order to raise awareness for WaterAid, a U.K. charity that works to provide access to clean water around the world.

“After seeing the reaction the picture caused earlier this week, the cast and crew came up with the idea of turning some of this attention towards an issue around water that really matters,” said a spokesperson for ITV, the channel the show airs on across the pond, in a statement. The Instagram post includes a link to information about how viewers can donate.

“Raising awareness” doesn’t always make a difference, of course — but it certainly did with the ice bucket challenge this month.