To curb the amount of cigarette butts cluttering Britain’s sidewalks, Keep Britain Tidy teamed up with creative agency VCCP London to give away portable ashtrays in a new litter awareness campaign.

Smokers, get yo’ ash off the streets

According to the latest research, smokers claim that the primary reason two-thirds of England’s litter is comprised of cigarette butts is because there aren’t enough public trashcans. To help overcome this barrier, the team at Keep Britain Tidy created a pocket-sized accessory they’ve dubbed the “Butt Box.”

In order to get these “personal ashtrays” into the hands of British smokers, Keep Britain Tidy and VCCP London designed a unique sidewalk screen display to attract the attention of passers-by and placed it in the bustling city of Birmingham. Made with a built-in smoke detector, the screen lights up when someone smoking walks by, and Keep Britain Tidy’s mascot, Drake the Duck, appears with a quack. He then delivers a short message about putting cigarette butts where they belong – in an ash tray, and prompts viewers to push a button on the side of the screen to receive a free Butt Box.

A PSA that doesn’t shame, but frames

Rather than give smokers a hard time for littering the landscape, VCCP and Keep Britain Tidy want to reinforce the idea that cigarette litter can be easily avoided with a little effort. As Frances Leach, creative director at VCCP stated:

“We’re not here to tell anyone off, as this is just going to alienate our audience, so we felt the best way to tell people about our Butt Box and show it in action was humor. So Drake, our campaign mascot, is back. And this time he’s here to offer people who smoke an easy solution to avoid dropping their cigarette butts and ensure streets are cleaner and there are fewer angry ducks waddling about the place.” 

In addition to the physical sidewalk campaign, videos of commuters interacting with the street display will also be shared on Keep Britain Tidy’s social media channels to help increase awareness online.