The archive · PR & Stunts · Marketing decision · 2017–2018
Trash Isles: LADbible makes Pacific garbage patch a country — Cannes Design Grand Prix
AMV BBDO and LADbible turned the ocean's plastic patch into a mock nation with a passport, flag and 'Debris' currency, so people could become its citizens.
LADbible · Plastic Oceans Foundation
What it had to solve
Plastic accumulated in the Pacific over an area roughly the size of France, yet world leaders ignored it because it was out of sight. LADbible and Plastic Oceans Foundation wanted a way to force the issue onto the global agenda.
How it works
The Trash Isles began with a joke with a serious engine: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is roughly the size of France, yet it has no flag, no citizens and no seat at the UN, so it is easy for world leaders to ignore. Creative duo Michael Hughes and Dal Evans de Almeida proposed fixing that by giving it a country.
Working with LADbible, Plastic Oceans Foundation and designer Mario Kerkstra, they built a full national identity: a recycled-material passport, a flag, postage stamps and a 'Debris' currency illustrated with sea life tangled in waste. On World Oceans Day 2017 the partners submitted a formal recognition application to the UN and launched a Change.org petition that let anyone become a citizen of the world's 196th country.
The citizenship mechanic gave the campaign its fuel: Al Gore became the first honorary citizen, Judi Dench was crowned the Trash Isles' queen, and David Attenborough signed up in 2018. The campaign reached around half a billion people, and the UN's own spokesman acknowledged it as an innovative way to bring attention to ocean plastic. In 2018 it took the Design Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.
Why it lands
- It converted a remote environmental disaster into a participatory act — signing a petition to become a citizen — instead of asking people to donate or change behaviour.
- The full state apparatus (flag, passport, currency, stamps) made the metaphor tangible and shareable across social channels.
- Recruiting celebrity 'honorary citizens' created a rolling news story that kept the campaign alive for a year.
- Submitting a real application to the UN gave the stunt institutional weight rather than making it pure comedy.
What it did
Over 200,000 people signed up as citizens and the campaign reached roughly half a billion people, with 50 million video views; the UN's spokesman called it an innovative way to surface the problem. It won the Design Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2018.
What you can take
Make an invisible, abstract problem something people can join: a flag, passport and citizenship ritual turned a distant garbage patch into an identity people wanted to belong to.
Since then
The campaign sustained momentum into 2018, adding citizens and picking up international honours beyond Cannes, including the Beazley Graphic Design Award. Its creators later described it as a model for using national symbols to make an overlooked global problem impossible to ignore; the UN application itself was not granted, but the awareness numbers and award recognition made the point the organisers intended.
Sources
- Petition launched to recognise Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a country
- AMV BBDO Wins Only Design Grand Prix in Cannes
- Trash Isles by AMVBBDO London wins Design Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2018
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