Ad of the Day: McDonald’s Norway acknowledges its littering problem in bold print campaign
There’s no denying that it’s often fast-food packaging you see littering streets, be it at a drive-through, parks or even at the side of the road. McDonald’s Norway, alongside agency partner Nord DDB, is taking ownership of this with an honest campaign depicting the ugly side of its wrappers.
McDonald’s campaign is encouraging people not to litter / Nord DDB
Photographed by Jói Kjartans, the ads acknowledge that the Golden Arches chain is a huge part of the problem and feature a McDonald’s food tray with an empty burger wrapper and boxes beside the wheel of a car, and drink containers left on some stairs.
The stark copy reads: “Unfortunately too much of our packaging ends up on the streets. Now we are doing our biggest effort yet and will clean even more than we already do. But we aren’t able to get it all, and need everyone to contribute. Please remember to throw away your litter in the bins next time you buy takeaway from us.”
“We’re responsible for one of the biggest and most visible parts of littering,” said Mari Husby, senior marketing manager at McDonald’s Norway.
“We’re definitely not pleased when we see trash from our restaurants lying around. This is a big problem for our communities, cities and the environment. With our size and influence, we can do a lot better than we do today.”
The campaign has been amplified with out-of-home (OOH) print ads, as well as a social media push that includes a mock-up of a polished promotional McDonald’s Instagram feed being replaced with images of trash.
“We have both a great responsibility and an enormous power to contribute to change,” added Husby.
“In addition to driving attention to the issue through mass communication, we’ve joined a pilot project with Keep Norway Clean with the aim of preventing unconscious littering, and we’ve initiated dialogue with politicians, stakeholders and competitors.”
