The&Partnership and RNIB Highlight Inaccessible Packaging with Pop-Up ‘Whatsin Store’
Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and The&Partnership opened a pop-up store in August to highlight the issue of inaccessible packaging and the impact it has on people with sight loss.
As part of their ongoing “Design for Everyone” campaign, the charity opened the ‘Whatsin Store,’ a corner shop stocked with deliberately inaccessible packaging, from intentionally vague branding designed by The&Partnership, to items entirely removed of information.
Hidden cameras in the shop filmed people’s reactions when confronted with inaccessibility first-hand, while the shopkeeper revealed that this is often the reality for people with sight loss when they are out shopping or want to buy food on the go.
Matt Stringer, CEO, RNIB said: “Everyone has the right to know what they’re buying yet packaging information is so often inaccessible for blind and partially sighted people. Our research shows that almost three-quarters of people feel that accessing product information on food packaging is very important to them. Yet 9 in 10 said that packaging is difficult or impossible to read. People told us they often rely on their memory for locating products or felt forced to ask for help. They shouldn’t have to rely on friends, family or shopworkers to buy food. It’s a matter of choice and of independence. RNIB is campaigning for products and services to be reimagined with accessibility in mind, because when products are designed for anyone, the result is better for everyone.”
As part of the campaign, The&Partnership designed bespoke products with vague packaging to highlight specific issues. For example, the ‘Can’t guarantee it’s not gluten’ biscuits by ‘Unhappy Shopper’ demonstrate the serious issue blind and partially sighted people with Coeliac disease have – knowing whether a product contains gluten is crucial for them but often not possible due to inaccessible packaging. Imagery of this bespoke product range will feature in press adverts and advertorials, as well as being live across social channels.
The&Partnership created a series of films using footage from the pop-up store, made with award-winning director Jonty Toosey, which will be live across RNIB’s social channels and website. The powerful film shows members of the public being confronted with the reality of what it’s like to shop for products with inaccessible packaging.
Yan Elliott, Joint Executive Creative Director at The&Partnership said: “Tackling the issue of inaccessible design is an ongoing mission for both us and RNIB. Our most recent ‘Design for Everyone’ campaign highlighted the lack of privacy caused by inaccessible pregnancy tests. In this next iteration of the campaign, we are literally bringing to life the issues blind and partially sighted people face just doing the weekly shop. We hope the campaign encourages businesses to work with RNIB to find solutions for their products as there are many technologies and tools out there that can help make packaging accessible for everyone.”
Planned and executed by Wavemaker and Kinetic WW, the store aimed to dramatize the challenge faced by blind and partially-sighted people and in doing so, provide the motivation to act. Accompanying imagery, films and editorial will amplify the message and give supporters and those in decision-making roles in the sector the information and guidance to ‘Design for Everyone’. The media campaign will run across trade press, social and online video.
