Responses by Mariana Peluffo, creative director, Cheil Central America
Background: The purpose of “The Nature of Plastic” print campaign for non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace was to encourage everyone to stop the consumption of unnecessary plastics in Chile. The targets of the project were Chilean citizens.
Reasoning: Greenpeace has a powerful voice that has set the tone for this campaign. From the beginning, we knew we wanted to create a stunning visual campaign that could effectively reflect what plastic pollution is doing to nature. From a different perspective, “The Nature of Plastic” exposes a clear message: Plastic is everywhere. The most important thing is that every print ad has a QR code so viewers can take action immediately.
Challenges: This project’s challenge was to recreate diverse, intricate satellite images of Chile’s landscapes—the Araucanía Forest; the Atacama Sand Dunes, Easter Island; the El Morado Glacier; and the El Plomo Mountain—from ordinary plastic bags, an element where beauty is unusual to find. We had to work tirelessly with the plastic materials, electrostatic response and unpredictable creasings to craft these recognizable images of nature. All created from something entirely unnatural—the very human-made plastic pollution that is overtaking nature.
Favorite details: “The Nature of Plastic” is our first print campaign for Greenpeace. It’s not easy to describe the tireless work, effort and dedication of so many talented people behind this project who made it possible. We are proud that this campaign effectively sends a clear message to the world: Plastic is everywhere.
Specific demands: In “The Nature of Plastic” campaign, we had to work in a limited workspace. There was such a delicate balance between the scales required and the light we used to reach that point where plastic turned into a landscape. We were focused on positioning the camera in the exact spot to unveil something that was already there, on those plastic textures under an unexpected new identity: Nature.
Anything new: We learned that plastic, in its different forms—microplastics—is completely covering the earth. We developed this campaign to raise awareness of how plastic is modifying all our landscapes irreversibly, even in protected environments.
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