Despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, Indonesia remains a country with one of the lowest literacy levels in Southeast Asia, and one plagued with a longstanding inequality in access to health and dental services. This is clearly evident in Indonesia’s worrying dental health statistics. On average, every child in Indonesia has five cavities, and almost half the Indonesian population have active dental caries.

To address this, Pepsodent sought to educate Indonesians that snacks can cause cavities – a problem easily remedied by its range of anticavity toothpastes – and advocate for preventive oral care on an individual level with an easily-understood and widely accessible message.

Cavities are caused by simple sugars in food. This means what we eat can end up eating away at our teeth. We identified common, everyday snacks and used them in the series.

We illustrated this fact with simple visuals that revealed the cause of the cavities upon closer inspection. The series appeals to children through simple, cartoonish antagonists and bright colours representative of the snack in question. The placement of the cavities was statistically grounded. Here, fact meets charm to attract and educate a young audience that would ignore the medical warnings typically found on dentists’ walls.

The series was placed in dental clinics, providing a bright, fun splash of colours in places that are often overly-sterile, intimidating and depressing to children. Placements in playgrounds and school canteens also gave us greater accessibility to children and adults – at places where snacking is common, no less.

The series found a way to enhance Pepsodent’s family-friendly brand personality with a visual approach and tonality that struck a chord with children and parents alike. Moving away from dated expert-driven communications rampant in the segment, the series made oral care messaging inviting and interesting, while finding a friendly way to deliver a familiar reminder in a new, interesting way.

The visuals also made it easier for parents to gain the attention of their children and engage them in much-needed conversations about the importance of picking up good dental care practices at an early age.