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Even after the Government banned single-use plastics, India’s crisis worsened, with plastics drowning the nation. The shocking reality of 9.4 million tons of annual plastic waste suffocating marine ecosystems to the brink of disaster.
India’s biggest changemaker, The Times of India, set out to instill a habitual change in the careless consumption of single use plastic products. The need of the hour was a powerful initiative to shatter ignorance and spark lasting change.
The traditional methods of public awareness and “Say No to Plastic” banners struggled to cut through the noise, fading quickly from memory and failing to instigate lasting change. It was time for someone to raise the alarm.
Indians have stopped paying attention to the clutter of warnings and ‘plastic pollution’ feels distant and irrelevant. “Why should I care? What difference can one bottle make?” The strategic breakthrough will be to get people to care and share the sentiment of change. We had to turn ‘plastic pollution’ into a visceral, personal story. Something people couldn’t ignore.
The #UnPlasticIndia campaign unleashed three powerful image alarms that simulate the opening of plastic bottles with human hands by twisting open the bottle necks but illustrate how the very act mercilessly kills marine creatures by suffocating them and twisting their necks with human hands. The human arm twisted marine animals asked a simple question looking into your eyes;
Still Using Plastic Bottles?
The mind-blowing, heart-wrenching, soul-stirring illustrations for the #UnplasticIndia Campaign brings alive the deadly truth of plastic pollution and the human impact on marine animals in the Indian Ocean. These alarming images elevate the sheer power of human imagination and are designed to shock and stay with you long after you see them and raise the alarm in your mind and then become a recurring image alarm every time you open a plastic bottle. Stay alarmed and end the habit of single-use-plastic now.
A campaign that started by asking a small question changed the nation in a big way.
Unique Reach: 31 million+ users.
Views: 14 million+
Beach Clean Up Drives: The campaign resulted in thousands of plastic waste collection centres in coastal areas being activated to ensure immediate action and reach every Indian out there.
Global and Local Chain Reaction: The campaign was shared widely on social media and was featured by the United Nations Environment Programme.
Complaints: The campaign was designed to elicit a reaction. While millions joined the movement, a few leading plastic bottle manufacturers protested against these images by filing complaints with ASCI India’s advertising regulator and tried very hard to stop the campaign, in vain.
2023 Creativepool Annual
Social Good
Gold
