From the Series
When London-based branding and communications agency NB Studio were asked to design something special for the May edition of Icon magazine they chose to look at bugs. Faced with an impending global nutrition crisis, their playful campaign looks at how big food brands and restaurant chains could introduce edible bugs into mainstream eating habits as a more sustainable source of protein.
“We believe it’s time to normalise insect eating, and that design can make the idea not just acceptable but appetising,” says founders and Design Indaba Conference 2016 speakers Alan Dye and Nick Finney. “Look at how meat protein is presented: a sandwich looks like a sandwich, not the beast inside.”
Wider spread entomophagy – the practice of eating insects – would lead to a significantly better use of natural resources than by the current meat industry, which is responsible for more greenhouse gases than planes, trains and cars combined. Big brands are going to have to lead the shift in the public’s attitude towards eating bugs. With, of course, clever advertising campaigns that possibly play on heritage, flavour suggestions and well chosen bug-branding language – because surely you’d also like to try that honey bug and lemon ant?
Watch the Talk with NB Studio
