The Plastic Museum
EsPlásticos
Issue 61 | January 2022
Agency
Shackleton
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Nacho Guilló Creative Director Tania Riera Digital Creative Director Pablo Campoamor
Production Team
Graphic Production Team Timoteo Martín Audiovisual Production Team Manuela Zamora, Cristina Cortizas, Paloma Martín Digital Production Team Lucía García, Marta Paz, Cecilia Pastorino, Francisco Ortiz
Other Credits
Account Team Marta García Viudes, Rafael García de Heras Social & Data Analysts José Vicioso, Ana Frías Graphic Studio Josué Hernández, Irene Tortosa, Sandra Freitas PR & SM Team Eva Calo, Alberto González, Auxi Gutiérrez, Marina Méndez, Lucía Ramos, Sara Choya, Laura Yébenes Client General Director Abelardo Bethencourt
Date
May 2021
Background
Because of the effect the misuse of plastic has had on the environment, legislation is being considered by the Spanish government which could have serious business consequences.
62% of users have a negative opinion about plastics and only 8% view them positively despite the importance they have in our lives.
Think of the pandemic and how plastics were used for PPE, respirators and gloves.
EsPlásticos was an initiative formed by a group of organisations involved in the production of plastics to draw attention to the benefits and sustainable solutions that plastics bring.
Idea
The core thinking was that plastic isn’t the problem. It’s what people do with it.
The first phase of the campaign was to build a museum entirely from plastic and open it to showcase amazing plastic objects from a bionic hand and a bicycle made with recycled plastic to health products and technological innovations.
The second part was to recycle the building in its entirety. On May 17th, World Recycling Day, the museum was dismantled and recycled.
The third phase was to bring to life all the new objects created from the recycled building. These were mailed to journalists with the label ‘I used to be a Museum’ and were put on sale in the online museum shop.
Results
If the plastics industry was seen to be a problem, now it was seen to be part of the solution.
61.5 million people were reached with free media to a value of €1.1 million with mentions in over 120 national and international media. 1,500 people visited the museum. After it was recycled, 72% of posts were positive and most linked to ‘the importance of recycling’.
Our Thoughts
The creative people must have despaired when they were given this brief. How do you defend the indefensible? This task must have looked as easy as trying to make an oil company look caring. How do you defend the indefensible? You consider the facts, that’s what you do. And you discover that the facts aren’t all bad. That without plastics anyone with a heart pacemaker would be in trouble. Airbags in your car, insulation in your home, plastics are what make modern life possible. And the agency has done a fantastic job of demonstrating that sustainable solutions aren’t just possible oneday, they are achievable today.
Not that it will stop the Spanish government from levying a new tax on plastic packaging.
I suspect this is less a desire to be green than a need to raise post-Covid cash.