How Stack is Selling Empty Cans to Fight Food Poverty

The Trussell Trust, the charity that works to combat food poverty in the UK, is “selling” empty food cans at delis and at food markets around the capital and online to raise money to support foodbanks that provide people in need with emergency food and vital signposting services. 

The charity’s new Trussell Can campaign, devised by its agency partner Stack, taps into foodie culture in order to raise awareness and help increase the number of regular donors for The Trussell Trust.

Food lovers who “buy” this Can for £3 and then give it back to the deli will donate their payment directly to The Trussell Trust; the Trussell Can then returns to the shelf to allow other food lovers to do the same, making the project 100% sustainable.  

Stack also created a 90second film, designed to promote the campaign’s digital experience. Replicating the real world initiative, Trussell Cans are available online at trusselltrust.org/thiscan where people can regularly donate Trussell Cans every month, which translate into regular monetary donations. 

The Trussell Trust partners with churches and communities to open new food banks across the UK. It has set up 420 foodbanks in the UK, but it’s not enough when 13 million people in the UK live below the poverty line. 

The charity’s goal is for every town in the UK to have a foodbank. In 2013, foodbanks fed 913,138 people nationwide and, of those helped, 330,205 were children.

Mark Ward, Head of Fundraising, The Trussell Trust said:  “People enjoy the immediacy of donating food to our foodbanks. It makes sense that when families need food, you give food. But many people don’t realise that we also need financial donations to help us provide foodbank services, both food and access to advisory services, within reach of everyone in the UK. Stack’s idea cleverly replicates the direct-ness of donating food and turns it into the money we so desperately need."

Liz Wilson, CEO, Stack said: “"Experience shows that timeliness and relevance are two of the most important factors in getting people to respond emotionally and practically to communication like this. So we've chosen to remind people about families going hungry when they are in a really foodie environment that's all about pleasure and indulgence for their own family."