Diwali, a popular Hindu celebration, is considered to be one of the happiest holidays in India. Besides the good feeling it brings to the population, Diwali is also spreading pollution because of a strong firecracker tradition. According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s National Air Quality Index, during this night, air quality is highly deteriorated.
Drawing inspiration from the holiday’s significance to overcome darkness through light and evil through good, Tropicana India, a PepsiCo juice brand, has set out to use the ‘gifting and giving’ spirit that spins around festivals and urges consumers to help nature regenerate through its kind initiative, #GiftATree. The eco-friendly project is dedicated to Mother Nature and was born out of the company’s desire to highlight the devastating effect firecrackers have on trees.
On this occasion and with the ambition to change the situation to a more favorable one for both man and the environment, the company planned to plant over 25,000 trees. The action targets consumers and invites them to help the company give back to nature by buying a Fruit Wishes pack, with all sales going towards the tree-planting.
As part of the new campaign, the company rolled out a two-and-a-half-minute-long video titled “The Man Who Planted the Forest,” for which Tropicana joined forces with Mindshare Content+, India’s largest full media service agency, a part of GroupM. The docu-style film pays a wonderful tribute to Jadav Payeng, an environmental activist who, over the course of 38 years, transformed the barren wasteland in Assam into a 1,360-acre forest area.
The film presents Payeng’s personal victory and closely follows his small, yet determined, steps to build something grandiose from scratch. His journey started in 1979 when he, at the age of 16, planted the first sapling. Almost four decades later, the place formerly threatened by erosion has been transformed into a new ecosystem, a heavenly dense forest which now even hosts a huge variety of wild animals.
Tropicana is strongly linked to nature, as all of its products are born from its sweet treats – fruits. To thank for these special gifts, the company decided to reward nature with what it truly deserves: a chance to bloom in a polluted world.
Similar to the “forest man of India,” Payeng’s characteristic nickname, and on behalf of its consumers, Tropicana aims to make the world a greener place. Although it might be seen as a humble step compared to the man’s purposeful effort, the company hopes that this campaign reaches a larger audience and empowers them to do the right thing and give Mother Nature what is rightfully hers.