The WWF has launched a campaign which uses plastic household objects to highlight the amount of plastic that people are ingesting.
The campaign, created by Grey, is based on research by WWF which found people were consuming about 2000 small pieces of plastic every week, equivalent to 5 grams a week, 21 grams a month. According to WWF, 5 grams of plastic is the equivalent weight of a credit card.
A website has also been set up to allow people to take a test based on their diet, and use the study findings to determine their likely weekly plastic consumption.
“These findings must serve as a wake-up call to governments. Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life - it’s in all of us and we can’t escape consuming plastics. Global action is urgent and essential to tackling this crisis,” said Marco Lambertini, the international director general of the WWF.
“While research is investigating the potential negative effects of plastic on human health, we are all clear that this is a worldwide problem that can only be solved by addressing the root cause of plastic pollution.”
He added: “If we don’t want plastic in our bodies, we need to stop the millions of tons of plastic that continue leaking into nature every year. In order to tackle the plastic crisis, we need urgent action at government, business and consumer levels, and a global treaty with global targets to address plastic pollution,”
Ultimately, the WWF hopes the campaign will be able to rally the public to support a global petition calling for a legally binding treaty on marine plastics pollution, which established national targets and transparent reporting mechanisms that extend to companies.
"We are using this as a hook to demonstrate a wider problem about how broken the plastics system is - this is 'Your Plastic Diet' and we are all on it if we like it or not. WWF gave us the outline findings, but microplastics are abstract, even 100,000 sounds big, but it's hard to relate to," said Graham Drew, the executive creative director of Grey Malaysia.
"So that led us to quantify it to weights, then to everyday items. I fell for the headline of 'you eat a credit card a week' - it's such a powerful headline that everyone can relate to and want to act on."
He continued: "From then we took a very pragmatic approach to the art direction and tone - the facts are disruptive enough to make you sign your support. Only by lobbying at the highest level do we have a hope of addressing this situation and WWF have a v precise game plan on how to do that."
The campaign will run on TV, digital, online and outdoor in countries like Singapore, Australia, Japan, Columbia, Mexico, Germany and UK.
: 'Your plastic diet'
Heng Thang Wei, Creative Director
Ralve Khor, Art Director
