Advertising for plant-based foods brings humor into a weighty category

Riding a bike to work, giving up burgers, switching to solar power – there are many everyday changes that could be a first step towards curbing global warming. But at what point does the worsening crisis seem far too massive for ordinary mortals?

And what’s funny about that?

A startup called Plonts, maker of fermented artificial cheese, has found a way to add humor to the serious subject by hiring actress and comedian Kate Berlant to lead its first marketing campaign, a surreal and twisted take on the Sisyphus myth.

The 60-second spot, from creative studio Easy Pete’s, also blatantly attacks corporate greenwashing and challenges traditional advertising norms in the plant-based category, plus it features laser beams, infomercial flair and killer cheddar.

“It’s never fun to think about the collapse of civilization,” said Zach Tavel, co-founder of Easy Pete’s and director of the ad. “But we thought about this existential burden we all feel and wondered if it’s something we can laugh about together.”

For inspiration, the creatives drew on Greek mythology, which Tavel called “the original absurd comedies.”

In the hero spot, Berlant’s character is a representative of the almighty Zeus, who sits majestically above Sisyphus and happily breaks the fourth wall.

Meanwhile, Berlant’s long-suffering co-star pushes a giant wheel of Plonts cheese up an ancient-looking mountain and says in the video: “A symbol of the futility of believing that switching to a plant-based diet will save the planet.”

With help from London-based animation studio Blinkink, the team used tried-and-tested techniques such as miniatures and models to illustrate the unofficial slogan “Melting cheese for a melting planet.”