One of my very first articles on this blog was about plant-based food company Meatless Farms and its controversial take on vegan product marketing. Over two years since writing, the vegan product market has exploded further, and today I wanted to share another plant-based brand whose controversial food marketing & packaging I think is on point.
Campaign Details
Company: THIS™
Campaign: Controversial Food Marketing packaging
Product/Services: Plant-based food
Mediums: Packaging
USP: Stating the obvious
THIS™ is a relatively new company, starting sales in 2019. There products all mimic traditional meat-based food items such as bacon, pork sausages and chicken nuggets, but they are 100% plant-based. I’ve tried several of their products and I can confidently say, you can’t taste the difference between them and their animal flesh counterparts. I’ve even feed them to sceptical meat eaters who couldn’t believe it wasn’t meat.
While not a marketing campaign as such, the focus of today is on their packaging, which is still an essential part of a brand’s marketing arsenal. All their products state THIS™ isn’t {insert product/meat}, for example, THIS™ isn’t bacon, THIS™ isn’t chicken. While this is funny to me in itself, they extend this humour across their packaging. The back of some of their packages is a masterclass in creating eye-catching, readable copy. It’s controversial food marketing while being light-hearted and poking fun at the marketing industry in general.
What’s good about the campaign?
I love the humour of their packaging and it really stands out on the supermarket shelf even while being relatively plain. As I said, the back copy of this particular packet I came across is hilarious to me, especially as a copywriter myself. I actually sent the screenshot below to a colleague of mine who has this style of writing and it both made us chuckle immensely. If you can’t see the photo, the package says
This is plant-based food for meat loverssss yesss wee knowwwwww iiiit’s on EVERYYY PACCKKKKKKKKK ummmmmmmmmm haveihitthewordcountyetwhambamthankyoumammiiiccccannntttbeeellieeeeveetthhhaatttthiiiississsssmyyyyyjoobbbbbbbbbbbbblolllthoidovaluethecreativefreedoommmzzztheysaidicouldwriteliterallyanythingiwantunluckyyyybyeeeeethankscheersbye.
There is still all the usual ingredient and handling information, but this product description space, which they rightly acknowledge is often full of fluff, gives the brand an opportunity to show a bit more personality. I think this, along with the plain title of This is bacon, it enough to set the brand apart on the shelves from other vegan and plant-based brands.
What doesn’t work so well?
I’ve nothing negative to say myself of this campaign (biased I know). It’s use of language pokes fun at some of the criticism plant food faces from meat enthusiasts and the farming lobby.
Many in the livestock and animal agriculture community are against vegetarian and vegan products being able to use words like sausage, burger, nuggets etc… In fact, France banned their use in October 2022, meaning French producers could no longer use words such as ‘sausages’, ‘bacon’, and ‘steak’ to describe plant-based meat alternatives – with the expectation of ‘burger’. Though the French High Court recently overturned this decision. I won’t go in to why this take on words like sausage is stupid, because THIS™ actually circumnavigated this silly rhetoric by saying exactly what the lobby has requested, just not in the way they want. They aren’t saying their product is bacon, they are saying the exact opposite.
The Verdict
This campaign is a great example of unique, fun copy. It provides the company with a strong brand image and is actually a great hidden in plain sight commentary on the farming lobby, marketing industry and the food marketplace in general. While it might not be to everyone’s tastes, it certainly is packed with flavour.
More Conscious Campaigns
Read more in this series