Credit: WPP
Makro and VML have applied stickers to fresh produce with visual indicators of the product’s ripeness and serving suggestions for each stage – a move intended to tackle unnecessary food waste.
The Life Extending Stickers campaign is designed to change consumer perceptions of ripeness and spoilage in fresh produce, and in doing so, ensure that food does not go to waste while it is still edible.
The colours on the sticker correspond with the fruit or vegetable’s ripening process, and a serving suggestion is provided for each stage. For instance, the sticker for a banana displays a colour gradient from green to black, with each one matched to foods like ice cream, tempura, and cupcakes.
During its initial launch in April 2023, Life Extending Stickers were applied in twenty-two Makro stores across Colombia. The solution is said to integrate ‘seamlessly’ into the conventional process of applying stickers to fresh produce in retail.
Printed material and digital organic posts are now being used to promote the initiative, and Makro has shared recipes for ripened fruit and vegetables on its Instagram account. The retailer hopes that Life Extending Stickers will address food waste among its consumers and help pursue its sustainability targets.
Reportedly, the campaign has succeeded in extending the average lifespan of fresh produce purchased by Makro shoppers. It is said to have generated over 85,000 interactions on social media platforms, with 264 million people believed to have interacted with organic articles across 25 countries.
All the way back in 2023, Ogilvy teamed up with Hellmann’s in another effort to reduce food waste – in this case, a smart jar with a label that changes colour when a refrigerator is at the optimal temperature to keep mayonnaise fresher for longer.
Since then, VTT and Eroski have tested food spoilage sensors in rabbit and chicken meat. The companies utilized Raman, near-infrared (NIR) and red, green and blue (RGB) sensors to identify potential contaminants such as blood and fat in the packaging products left by the fresh meat.
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