JWT Folk, Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council and the Environmental Protection Agency, have a message for Dubliners; “Don’t be Dick”.
This attention-demanding line is part of a new campaign aimed at educating Dubliners on the environmental impact of using disposable plastic cups.
The reality is that ‘disposable’ cups are not really disposable. They are not recycled here in Ireland and are a huge waste generator.
JWT Folk Creative Director, Monika Crowley explains; ‘The main job to do with this campaign is to address the unthinking behaviour of grabbing a takeaway coffee - often multiple times - during a typical working day. This isn’t a case of people willingly doing harm to the environment, it’s a lack of education on the consquences. But people hate to be preached at and tend to ignore typical public service messaging. So first, we needed to get people’s attention. Introducing “Dick” - the guy we are all guilty of being occasionally. The character Dick personifies this unthinking behavior. With this straight-talking, funny message that plays on a phrase we all use daily, we hope to jolt people into taking notice. Once we have their attention, we present them with the truth about disposable cups, that many people weren’t aware of and get them to think about some of the alternatives, including the possibility of switching to a reusable cup.’
Commenting on the campaign, Fionnghuala Ryan, Executive Environmental Scientific Officer for the DCC says; “Reducing the use of disposable coffee cups is a DCC priority. Over 200 million plastic cups are disposed of every year. So delivering this message in a way that ensures people understand that these cups are harmful to the environment is crucial. Dick is the guy none of us want to be, and the inherent humour in the cinema, OOH and social means that we can deliver what is a pretty serious message, in an entertaining way.”
The campaign, which includes cinema, OOH, radio and social, will run throughout June and July.