Hong Kong anti-litter campaign swipes DNA from trash, uses it to create mugshots of suspected litterers

Xeni Jardin 12:32 pm Fri Apr 24, 2015

Ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong created a very creepy Earth Day campaign for the Hong Kong CleanUp Initiative.

The agency tapped Parabon NanoLabs to do DNA testing on bits of trash found on the street, such as coffee cups and cigarette butts. The company then used Snapshot DNA phenotyping to produce a sketch of each litterer's face based on the DNA sample found on the trash.

The mug shots were then featured on posters near the trash-infested areas. Although the portraits weren't of real people, just reproductions shaped according to the genetic data, the agency is hoping that the "Wanted"-style ads are enough of a deterrent to make people clean up after themselves.

What could possibly go wrong? Watch the video. [Creativity-Online]

Update: A number of readers point out that the Ogilvy campaign is very similar to previous work by Heather Dewey Hagborg. Some are calling it plagiarism of her work.

HongKongCleanUp_TheFaceofLitter15

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