To vote ‘yes’, place your trash here

Brands are striving to establish a greener image by showing responsibility for their plastic packaging, especially after their role in the world’s plastic-pollution problem has become more clear. In Vietnam, Pepsi is trying to stand out with a ‘Kill two birds with one stone’ campaign.

Taking into consideration the cultural factor of Vietnamese youth wishing to make themselves heard, as well as the country’s littering problem, Pepsi, in cooperation with advertising agency Happiness Saigon, launched a pilot program called ‘Raise your voice’ in March.

The campaign placed special bins in about a dozen locations in Ho Chi Minh City. Each bin was accompanied by a question about a hot topic of urban life, from environmental concerns to the pressure placed on young people.

The installations asked consumers to vote by putting their trash into either the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ compartment.

Meanwhile, Pepsi and Happiness built a website for the project, showcasing real-time data on the amount of trash collected and consumers’ opinions about the questions. To data, over 2,500 kilograms of trash has been collected.

Now the drink company hopes to turn the project into a large-scale campaign to further combat littering in Vietnam.

Campaign comment: While the campaign is meaningful in that it encourages young people to speak their mind, it’s hard to say what changes it could bring to the heavy littering in Vietnam, especially considering that the problem is more serious in rural areas and beaches than in urban regions. It’s also questionable whether the campaign can constantly come up with controversial questions to maintain consumers’ interest.

The brand also has to face the possibility that the effort could backfire. Already, 64% of consumers said ‘no’ to the question “Should littering be considered a more serious crime?”, and if the littering situation doesn’t improve over time, the effort could end up looking a taunt and cause a loss of appetite for the brand.

CREDITS

Pepsi / SPVB Vietnam
Vice President Marketing: Toan Nguyen
Senior Marketing Director: Trang Nguyễn
Media Director: Việt Võ
Brand manager: Hung Nguyen
Assistant Brand Manager: Ha Nguyen

Happiness Saigon
CEO: Alan Cerutti
Creative Director: Paul Busschau
Account Director: Anh Diệp
Account Executive: Thắm Nguyễn, Linh Quan
Strategic Planner: Viet Le, Eline Goethals
Concept Provider: Simon Pyson, Iris Nuyts, Tuan Phan, Hung Kieu
Head of design: Anouk Kimplaire
Social Manager: Chau Anh
Senior Copywriter: Chi Nguyen
Graphic – Motion designer: Tien Nguyen, Edu Maluka, 
Strategic Planner: Viet Le
Technical Partner: Bliss Interactive
Music Composer: Jaan Hantson