MUMBAI: International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and Karo Sambhav, a tech-enabled Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), have collaboratively launched a consumer awareness campaign titled ‘E-waste Hum Le Jayenge’.
The campaign has been designed by J Walter Thompson and aims to create top-of-the-mind recall by building relevance for Indian consumers while providing a clear call-to-action to dispose e-waste responsibly through e-waste collection channels set up by Karo Sambhav.
J. Walter Thompson, Delhi managing partner Joy Chauhan said, “E-waste management is a complex ecosystem with multiple stakeholders, involved in the generation of e-waste and its unsafe disposal. Our campaign’s objective was to cut through all segments in a way that is simple to understand and easy to follow. To resonate with all the different stakeholders and the public at large, and to reframe the technology/environment conversation in order to make it more exciting, more relevant and more engaging – we took to pervasive cinema culture of India. We believe it would help create a positive dialogue for the program and bring the issue to fore.”
Karo Sambhav founder Pranshu Singhal said, “Discussions on e-waste management have largely been confined to experts and industry stakeholders and it is yet to become a mainstream topic. We need to engage creatively with people and drive long-term behavioural shifts. This campaign aims to build an e-waste movement in India.”
IFC’s India E-waste Program program manager Sarina Bolla said, “E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream globally; building awareness about proper management of e-waste is essential to meeting our goal of building a sustainable long-term solution for India. The campaign will engage with multiple stakeholders to change how we address the current challenges in this sector.”
The campaign will be promoted through digital, social media, and radio platforms to create widescale awareness around responsible and effective e-waste management across the country. The campaign will engage with individual consumers, bulk consumers (universities, corporates, etc.) and policy makers so that all stakeholders in the ecosystem can collectively address the e-waste crisis. The campaign will be initially promoted in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, and Chennai and will be adapted in four languages (Hindi, English, Kannada, and Tamil) during the outreach.
During the build-up to the campaign, a consumer immersion was undertaken amongst multiple stakeholders involved in creating, hoarding, and collecting e-waste. It was observed that not only was awareness of e-waste management low but it also was fascinating to discover that people had an unsullied mindset, where they didn’t realise they were doing anything wrong by not disposing off e-waste responsibly. We needed an approach that would make people want to participate in the cause, create an intent to mend their ways and be more conscious of the right way to dispose of.
