Kenco Coffee vs Gangs advert

Kenco’s latest ad highlights its CSR work in Honduras

Kenco is showcasing the work it does to steer young people in Honduras away from a life of crime with a new advert.

A 60-second video clip featuring a young man who is on the brink of becoming involved in violent gang activity before being given the opportunity to train as a coffee farmer first aired yesterday (18 August) on ITV and will run across all major TV channels including Sky and in cinemas.

The advertising push will last until October 9 with 30-second adverts replacing the 60 second-versions on TV and VOD in two weeks’ time.

The campaign aims to highlight the work of the brand’s Coffee Vs Gangs project – an 11-month training and education programme that equips 20 vulnerable youths from the troubled inner city and coffee-farming communities with the skills to grow quality coffee as well as teaching them maths and English.

Emad Nadim, Kenco brand manager, said the advert pushed “the boundaries of coffee advertising and brand transparency above the norm of smiling people holding steaming cups of coffee”.

“Mondelez International is a big player in coffee and collectively we and our consumers – who drink about 8.6 million cups of Kenco a day – have a responsibility towards the communities that our coffee comes from,” he said.

“The Coffee Vs Gangs Pilot Project will offer an end-to-end programme from lodging, to food, to business skills, following individual stories along the way creating true brand transparency and a step towards real sustainability.”

The scheme is part of Coffee Made Happy, a global $200m project that aims to help one million coffee smallholder farmers become successful entrepreneurs.