The Campaign

We sought a way to reach consumers warning them of the harm they were exposing themselves to while eating street food. We found our solution in the most immediate, unavoidable medium they interact with when they consume this food - the packaging of the food itself. Thus was born DON'T EAT THE NEWS. To make people realise that they were consumer newspaper ink-infused food, we replaced old newspapers that were being used as food wraps by street vendors with safe wraps printed with edible ink. The wraps carried a warning against eating in newspaper packaging, and also prodded the consumer to get health insurance.

Creative Execution

Over 2,00,000 wrappers were printed and distributed to street food vendors in 20 cities across India between 5th January 2018 and 28th February 2018.

Inquiries at Religare Health Insurance increased by 210% post the initiative. But, the best part was, it spark a wide spread conversation in the news and on social media. Finally, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India released a warning against consumption of food in newspaper packaging. A ban on newspaper packing for street food is reportedly on the cards.

India's street food vendors were unknowingly poisoning people by using old newspapers as food packaging. Hot, oily food causes newspaper ink to melt which releases harmful chemicals into the food. This can lead to high blood pressure, kidney damage, cancer, etc. We printed thousands of food wrappers with edible ink and distributed them to vendors across India. The wrappers warned people of the dangers of eating newspaper ink-infused food and also prodded them to get insured. We thus tapped into a medium they could not ignore, at the right place and right time, and eventually shocked them into taking action.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Street food is loved and cherished by all Indians across age, demographics, cities and communities. Every street of every city and town of India hosts at least 1 vendor selling street food. And everyone from a CEO to an office runner enjoys it equally. So our target audience included millions of people all over India. Our approach was to catch them with the right message in the right place. By printing our communication in edible ink and distributing it to food vendors across India, we ensured that we replaced harmful newspaper wraps with safe wraps and unmistakably got their attention as they ate their favourite street delicacies.