The advertisement, called 'Reincannation' features a group of aluminium cans that are dumped on a landfill rather than sent for recycling. They decide to retaliate by “crushing” humans – a reference to the idea that UK landfill is running out.
Message
Alcan spokeswoman Diana Caldwell told letsrecycle.com: “We wanted to develop marketing initiatives and help local authorities to invigorate their recycling programmes. The message of the advert is if you don't hurry up and recycle, landfills will be swamped.
“The message we are trying to get across will work really well in Shropshire because it's a very self-contained area from a marketing point of view – it's largely rural with a few dense centres of population.”
The advert will be shown in cinemas across Shropshire during December and January to coincide with the festive film season. And the same characters will appear across other media as part of Shropshire's 'Rethinking Rubbish' publicity campaign.
Campaign
Shropshire county council waste initiatives officer Oliver Furber said: “This campaign sounded perfect. We have signed a Local Public Service Authority agreement to stretch our targets within Shropshire and as part of this we have some priming money. We have put together a wider campaign for other media, from buses to newspapers to radio.”
The LPSA provided 125,000 to be shared equally between the county council and its five district authorities. Running costs for the Alcan advert and accompanying campaign will take up 20,000 of this.
Alcan hopes to extend the advert, which was produced by Bristol-based Happy Hour Productions, to other regions in 2004. Ms Caldwell said: “Although it features drinks cans, the message is generic – we need to recycle more of our rubbish rather than burying it in holes in the ground.”
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