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This week, several people from adland were away celebrating in the French Riviera at the Cannes Lions festival, collecting more hangovers than awards, as one ad man quipped. While they were away trying to cage Lions on their mantles for their clients and CMOs, one brand launched a curious award.
A D2C brand called The Whole Truth Foods has launched the ‘Kachra Awards’ to have their own celebration back here in the home country. Now, you would think that the ‘Kachra Awards’ probably celebrate the worst advertising campaigns of the past year. (What an event that would be!)
However, this award is a recognition of ‘Kachra’ foods and their ads. The Whole Truth has launched this campaign where consumers can nominate the “trashiest packaged food” that is advertising itself as healthy.
Are the Kachra Awards a gimmick? Yes. But one that certainly piqued our interest.
"You've seen what trash foods can do. It's our turn to do something for them. Give a Kachra Award to the trashiest packaged food around you and share it with the world!" It says on the site for Kachra Awards.
The website urges users to fill in the provided blank fields with details of trashiest packaged foods and generate an award certificate.
The footer on the site reads: "This website functions as a platform for users to express their opinions and viewpoints. Such opinions and viewpoints solely belong to the users and each user is responsible for the views expressed. Users are solely responsible for ensuring that they possess the appropriate intellectual property rights for any images or other content uploaded to the website. By uploading such content, users acknowledge and affirm that they hold the necessary rights or permissions for its usage. Any information provided on this website, including templates and prompts, is intended for illustrative and reference purposes only."
The company released a video two weeks ago, featuring its founder Shashank Mehta like most of its videos do. It takes a dig at the marketing tactics deployed by major food companies.
The Whole Truth Foods is one of many D2C brands that are challenging packaged-foods behemoths. They've also roped in popular influencers like Revant Himatsingka aka Food Pharmer who are leading and fueling the 'food revolution'.
To be sure, the big packaged foods companies have been moving to healthier standards for their products over the past decade, reducing everything from sodium and sugar while providing more healthier snacking options to the conscious consumer. However, a raft of D2C brands emerged during and after the pandemic in response to this growing consciousness around health, well-being and food.