Designed to spark conversation and action, Malnutrition Labels: Nutritional Ink, launched today by the Dole Sunshine Company (DSC), calls attention to the low nutritional value in some of Britain’s favourite snacks and on-the-go food options by printing ads using ink made almost entirely of fruit. A launch film (see below) captures the campaign’s approach to communication and consumer education, showcasing posters across the city printed with ink containing more nutritional value than many of the snacks consumed daily around the world – think fast food, sweets and more.

DSC partnered with London-based St. Luke’s Communications and Bompas & Parr, experts in multi-sensory experience design, to create a range of printing inks made almost entirely of fruit and natural ingredients – containing more nutrients than many not-so-nutritious snack choices. Testing was led by food scientists and went through various rounds of experimentation, using a variety of fruit waste and scraps, from pineapples to grapefruit, to create optimal colours and nutritional formulation for printing. The integrated campaign will be deployed across OOH, social, and digital elements.

“Nutrition and wellness are core to our portfolio transformation at the Dole Sunshine Company. Too often we see consumers making poor choices, but the responsibility needs to shift to industry and government to ensure access to proper nutrition,” says Pier Luigi Sigismondi, president, Dole Packaged Food & Beverages Group. “Nutritional Ink is designed to spark thought provoking conversations and hopefully, inspire actions that drive the systemic change that our food system so desperately needs. A small amount of distilled fruit may contain more good nutrients than some popular snacks. This campaign is about building consumer advocacy for access to more healthy food options that provide the necessary nutrients for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.”

Inspired by the trusted and universally known nutrition label, DSC’s Malnutrition Labels were first introduced in a series of larger-than-life projections meant to call attention city- and nationwide to the alarming nutritional issues affecting us today. Next, Malnutrition Labels: Food Waste helped to transform the symbol of waste into a valuable tool supporting food waste reduction and fighting hunger, appearing on big belly smart waste and recycling bins, trash bags and waste removal trucks in New York City.  With this iteration of the campaign, DSC invites people to #FavourMoreFruit when it comes to making better snack choices, as well as do their part to help #ChangetheFacts around malnutrition.

As part of the campaign Dole Sunshine donated products to FareShare, the UK’s largest charity fighting food waste and hunger, which will be redistributed to its network of nearly 9,500 charities and community groups across the UK. As well as food banks, these charities provide wraparound services for people who are often struggling with issues including unemployment and low income, debt, homelessness, family break up, and dependency.   

Bompas & Parr Studio says, “The creative research and development process in creating a cutting-edge culinary innovation like nutritional ink has been a fascinating one. From carefully balancing the ingredients to create vibrant colours, to modifying the textures to ensure they were compatible with screen printing techniques, we managed to show that a traditional chemical-based process can be re-produced in a sustainable plant-based way, with actual nutritional value, as well.”