KitKat Tells Polite Canadians to Ditch the Manners with AI

Canadians may have a global reputation for politeness, but KitKat Canada is asking them to tone it down with the launch of its latest campaign, ‘Break From Politeness’. Created in partnership with independent agency Courage, this new endeavour tackles some of AI’s environmental ramifications by encouraging users to refrain from niceties – actions which end up using additional energy.

The move reinforces the brand’s classic slogan, ‘Have a Break’. For chief creative officer Joel Holtby, it was an opportunity to promote KitKat while tapping into Canadian culture and interacting with a topical conversation – a set of circumstances too good to pass up for both the agency and brand.

"We’re always looking for new, culturally-relevant ways to bring ‘the break’ promise to life,” he explains. “So, when we stumbled across this fascinating fact – that the extra words we use when we’re ‘being polite’ to AI actually require more energy to process, meaning more carbon emissions – that insight felt like the perfect opportunity to do something unexpected: invite Canadians to take a break from saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to their devices. It’s playful, it’s timely, and it lets KitKat enter the AI conversation in a way that’s uniquely ours – by finding humour in everyday behaviours."

Centred around a fun, 40-second spot, as well as a series of out-of-home ads depicting KitKat bars censoring cases of unnecessary and environmentally-wasteful manners, the work is visually-striking, and sends a strong message. Designed to be cheeky, evocative, and playfully ‘KitKat’, for creative directors Tommy Yong and Matt Miller, a lot of time and effort went into helping the brand join the AI conversation in the right way.

"Culturally, AI is everywhere right now, but the conversation can often feel heavy, technical, and a little intimidating,” the former says. “We wanted to inject some lightness into that space and show that KitKat is staying relevant and topical, while staying true to its playful spirit. Our partnership with KitKat thrives on finding these kinds of moments: simple truths that everyone can relate to, but that also feel fresh in the cultural landscape. This was one of those moments where brand and agency were totally aligned."

At the same time, neither side wanted the work to feel overly preachy. So, to propose new action in a fun way, while highlighting that AI-users can fuel their own breaks with the brand’s 45-gram chocolate bars (which happen to be prepared in Toronto), the team placed a lot of emphasis on the spot’s voice, animation and music.

“KitKat is always looking for new ways to ask people to ‘break’ in culture,” Matt continue. “The biggest challenge here was making sure the idea came through without turning into a lecture… which I think we succeeded with. Our solution was to make sure the spirit of the ad still felt like it was coming from a chocolate brand, and not a tech company.”

Tommy agrees, adding that both the idea and the campaign’s reactive nature are personal highlights – elements he hopes Canadians will also appreciate now that the work has officially landed in market.

"We’re proud of how quickly and cleanly we were able to connect a major cultural talking point to KitKat’s brand DNA,” he concludes. “It’s not easy to jump into the AI conversation without feeling forced, but this idea feels natural, fun, and very KitKat. The fact that it also has a real-world sustainability angle is the cherry on top. It’s rare to make people smile and think in the same breath, and that’s exactly what this campaign does."