In Southeast Asia, thousands of children spend up to 6 hours on screens every day. Screen time has literally replaced playtime. A huge issue for a brand like OMO, who has been always inspiring families to go out and play. They have been doing it in their communication through the tagline “Dirt is good”. And even with their own products. OMO packaging is known to showcase children playing outdoors in different markets across the globe. But times have changed. In order to prove that no one noticed this alarming mindset transformation, we decided to make a change. A subtle but meaningful change in our global asset: packaging.

We took shots of different kids using different devices: a mobile phone, a laptop and a video-game console. The kids playing outdoors were then replaced by the screen time kids, after which the revised packaging was placed in numbers on shelves throughout Vietnam. Then came the time to observe shoppers’ reactions to the change. Out of an average of 500 supermarket customers a day, not one had noticed the change. Two weeks after, we revealed the startling truth: not a single person noticed the change. We showcased the results of this experiment on OMO’s Official Fan Page on Facebook, kick-starting an organic discussion on social media. This provocation ignited a social debate among parents, schools, specialists, and the media, inspiring families and children to put down their screens, go out and start playing again. The first step towards a progressive change in Southeast Asia.