Category Archives: Game

Heinz: Take You On A ‘SOS Tomatoes’ Journey in Fortnite

In my first-ever post, I discussed H&M’s Loooptopia, a game about fashion circularity through Roblox. So, I was thinking, why not end it with another company collaborating with another game company for my potential last post? So this post, I will introduce you to the collaboration between the famous condiment brand Heinz and Fortnite.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 95% of the food we consume comes from social; however, due to the increase in population and climate change, we are also putting a health risk on the soil. “SOS Tomatoes,” the game that the two companies collaborated on, aims to educate players about the “world’s declining soil health and effect positive environmental change.” In this game, the players can go through the journey of how to grow a tomato by becoming one, which means experiencing being in the field. Furthermore, to incorporate Fornite’s characteristics, the players will have to run faster than the speed of “soil degradation,” which also sends out another message of how fast soil health is declining. By playing this game, Heinz also announced that it would help impact the real world as the company will protect an extra 13.5 million acres of soil and more than 1600 soccer fields!

More and more market leaders have raised awareness of the need for sustainable practices in every industry, such as fashion and food. To increase such awareness, most companies nowadays have decided to target Gen Z since they are our future leaders and focus on using video games as a medium for education. However, I wonder if such an effort impacts these teenagers or even us on sustainability. After playing these games, will we remember what we learned or just think of it as a special version of the game we like? Is there a more effective way to educate people? As a person who plays games, I love how companies tap into the metaverse, but I am not convinced about the effectiveness of such ideas. Despite that, It is nice to know companies are at least finding novel ways to incorporate education on sustainability in our lives.

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H&M’s ‘Loooptopia’ Metaverse Experience Educate People On Circular Fashion

Recently, H&M, along with other brands such as Gucci, has tapped into the metaverse by collaborating with Roblox and launching its H&M Loooptopia Experience. The game allows people to create their avatars and learn about “recycling materials and garments for a circular fashion future” through different elements provided, such as mini-games. The users can gather fashion ingredients, make them into wearable in-game clothes, recycle old clothes to get rare elements to make other clothes, and trade clothes with their friends.

With the rise in the gaming community and younger people becoming more tech-savvy than ever, Loooptopia focuses on targeting the younger generations and gamers, our future leaders, to educate them about sustainability in a fun and accessible way. Besides focusing on the environmental side of sustainability, Loooptopia also emphasizes inclusivity since the games allow users to express their unique selves and identity by creating avatars and the clothes they make in-game. All of these align with H&M’s value of “style, creativity, and culture.”

While Loooptopia is a great start to teaching people about what circular fashion is, it raises a question of how effective it is to help create an actual impact on the world. We cannot guarantee that people will actively participate in certain sustainable activities after playing the game. What is the indication of the campaign’s success and how to measure it is the question H&M needs to consider. If the measure of success only depends on the game’s active users but not the actual environmental impact, such as the number of recycled and repurposed clothes. In that case, the game can be just a mere promotional strategy for H&M and a show of proof that they are “caring for the environment” and to cover up the recent “greenwashing” accusation.

H&M declare they are putting effort into being a more sustainable company by innovating around its use of materials and the process of producing clothing. For instance, they are trying to design clothes that can get recycled and repurposed, and they have come out with a collection from “recycled metals and circular, bio-based fabrics and food waste.” Whether it is making a positive impact or just “greenwashing,” it is nice to know that huge brands have taken the role of educators to teach the future generation about sustainability.

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