Zulu Alpha Kilo turns satire campaign into purposeful action

The only thing Ad Nut likes more than cashews is an honest campaign with a happy ending.

That’s why when Zulu Alpha Kilo released a video called “Left-Handed Mango Chutney,” Ad Nut was glad someone else was as willing to call out the state of the industry as Ad Nut is.

Ad Nut has been examining ad campaigns long enough to know that much of the industry’s “purpose” work is insincere, or worse — awards bait. The left-handed chutney video Zulu Alpha Kilo perfectly captures that.

Released last month, the satire video stars an industry creative named Greg, who tries to win over dinner party guests by boasting about his latest “innovative” campaign — a jar of mango chutney designed for lefties National Left-Handers Day.

But Greg is only pretending to care about left-handers. Like some advertising creatives Ad Nut has encountered before, he’s really just interested in winning awards.

Ad Nut doesn’t like campaigns that are built to win awards.

After the video went viral, Zulu Alpha Kilo produced six jars of real Left-Handed Mango Chutney to bring this narrative to life. Ad Nut wasn’t sure why Zulu Alpha Kilo would do that, but then Ad Nut learned that the jars will be put up for auction for one week, with proceeds will be donated to Food Banks Canada before the holidays. Zulu will match each winning donation.

Ad Nut still thinks humans are quite strange but he is glad that the campaign is helping people in need.