Indonesia is consistently hot and humid year-round, which creates the perfect breeding ground for flies. Flies can transmit at least 65 diseases to humans such as the deadly typhoid, cholera, diarrhoea, and more.

Most school canteens are open-air, leaving our children highly vulnerable to flies. Unfortunately, poor mealtime hygiene puts children at risk of contracting these diseases. In the past two years, over a hundred cases of food poisoning occurred after meals in school canteens. In Bandung City, one student died from diarrhoea, all identified as E.Coli.

Dulux, a household brand closely connected to the community in Indonesia, aimed to make a change by providing a healthier dining environment for students.

Through research, a solution was discovered - Flies hate yellow. The colour yellow is the number one colour that repels flies.

We then conducted a test using food placed on two wooden tables, one was painted in yellow, the other remained untouched. Astonishingly, flies were only drawn to food on the non-yellowed table.

Taking the experiment to the next level, we transformed several school canteens by painting the tables, benches, and even the walls in yellow. What happened next? The Yellow Canteens proved to be effectively repelling flies, creating a much healthier dining environment for our students.

To make the campaign more sustainable, we created a website (yellowcanteen.org) for schools to register for help, and more school canteens were transformed across the country. The yellow effect spread and inspired everyone in the school, parents, and canteen owners started to apply the ‘yellow’ concept to cups, plates, aprons, and more.

Most school canteens are open-air, leaving our children highly vulnerable to flies. Unfortunately, poor mealtime hygiene puts children at risk of contracting diseases transmitted by flies.

Dulux, the community brand, wanted to help. Instead of spending millions of dollars on traditional media for hygiene awareness, which would not have been effective for children, we turned school canteens into an efficient and sustainable solution for disease prevention.

Through research, a simple but effective solution was discovered—the colour yellow. Flies hate the colour yellow. We then transformed several school canteens by painting the tables, benches, and even the walls in yellow. This simple change proved to effectively ward off flies and in turn, created a much healthier dining environment for our students.

To make the campaign more sustainable, we created a website (www.yellowcanteen.org) for schools to register for help, and more school canteens were transformed across the country. The yellow effect spread and inspired everyone in the school, parents, teachers, and canteen owners started to apply the ‘yellow’ design concept to more stuff such as cups, food containers, plates, aprons, and more.

More than five thousand students have benefited in two months since the launch of the Yellow Canteen. The yellow effect spread and inspired everyone in the school; parents and canteen owners started applying the 'yellow' concept to more items, such as cups, food containers, plates, aprons, and more.

School transformation requests on the website exceeded expectations. The global media picked up the news, generating over a million impressions worldwide, and significantly raising brand perception across the country.

Next, Dulux is expanding the idea beyond Indonesia; this design innovation will benefit more children across the world.