Plastic-free gum manufacturer Nuud has called out its bigger rivals, including Wrigley's Extra, in a “playful” out-of-home campaign.
The campaign, “Chew plants not plastic” created by TheOr, stems from the fact that there is a drinking straw’s worth of single-use plastic hidden inside a piece of regular chewing gum.
The push calls out gum brands that use single-use plastic in their products by making this ingredient more transparent on the offending brand’s packaging.
Nuud surveyed 2,000 UK consumers and found that 74% were concerned about the health impact of chewing on plastic and 84% said they believe it is the responsibility of big gum brands to be transparent about the plastic content. In addition, 75% would support a ban of the product.
A series of bold posters takes inspiration from gum giants’ packaging and puts plastic front and centre with the line: “Some gum is made of plastic, Nuud isn’t.”
Keir Carnie, founder of Nuud, called the use of plastic inside regular gum “the food industry’s dirtiest secret”.
Carnie told Campaign that different plastic materials are listed under the term “gum base” on the ingredients of regular chewing gum packaging.
“Lots of recognisable plastics that go into shampoo bottles, carrier bags and water bottles are bundled into this proprietary term – the consumers have no idea that they’re chewing on all of this plastic.”
Carnie said that these brands need to be more transparent and list their plastic ingredients so that people are aware “that they're putting this big blob of plastic into their mouth” and can make an informed decision about their purchases.
Nuud gum uses a sustainably harvested chewy tree sap instead of single-use plastics, making the product plant-based and biodegradable.
The brand aims to tackle the environmental impact as well as the effect this will have on people’s physical health.
Carnie added: “Our job is twofold from a marketing perspective: it is about bringing down that lack of awareness as quickly as possible and then, from a growth perspective, ensuring that our plant-based, planet-friendly alternative is available where the consumer wants to find this.”
He said that the campaign’s message is so bold is because gum is often an impulse purchase many people make without thinking about what brand to reach for.
Carnie added: “It's such an impulse-driven category it’s about being available in the right place at the right time for the consumer – starting that campaigning process on the front of the pack in the three to five seconds you get to grab someone's attention in store.”
Paulo Salomao, managing partner and business lead at TheOr, said that there would now be a “relentless” push from the brand rather than just a one-off campaign.
Of the creative execution, Salomao said it was all about putting plastic at its heart to encourage big gum brands to be transparent.
“The best way of kicking this thing off is for there to be a really playful visual example of the change we're after,” Salomao added. “What you see is a direct articulation of the change that we want.”
He added that the statistics from the brand’s consumer research particularly inspired the campaign.
“The two reactions are shock and support,” he said of the responses Nuud and TheOr are striving to achieve.
“You want shock, because people won't know about the message that we're talking about, and we then want this to follow up with support for the brand and spreading the message further,” he said.
“The more people that know, the quicker this thing will actually happen.”