Magpies and Turtles Heckle Human 'Tossers' in 303 MullenLowe's First Major Work For NSW EPA

'Nature Hates a Tosser' personifies native wildlife as watchful and angry rather than innocent and helpless, to target an audience that will often make excuses for littering, or assume it’s okay if no one sees them doing it.

It’s a simple truth -- nature hates a tosser. And one at the core of a new NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) awareness campaign, aimed at changing the behaviour of daily and weekly litterers.

The new campaign builds on and reimagines the highly successful 11-year-old NSW EPA ‘Don’t be a Tosser’ platform. It will be seen across TV, BVOD, SVOD, radio, digital and social, OOH, and CALD assets (film, social, radio). Local governments across NSW will also utilise assets to ensure maximum visibility.

303 MullenLowe Sydney’s chief strategy officer Jody Elston said by portraying furious birds and turtles confronting litterers, 'Nature Hates a Tosser' and its “disruptive tonality” aimed to make people reconsider their act of littering as harmless, and understand the real harm it causes to wildlife and waterways.

“We know that anonymity increases people’s propensity to litter," she said.

"Young men in particular are less likely to drop litter when people are around, or they are closer to home, so we needed to shift from evoking social shame when people are watching, to personal shame in the moment. To ensure their emotional response would override convenience-led excuses.

“Our secondary research illuminated a famous psychological experiment whereby the presence of eyes simulates an authority figure watching and works to curb people’s negative behaviour even when alone. We leveraged this cognitive influence and showed nature’s angry eyes watching to bring the real impact on wildlife and waterways closer to the littering behaviour.”

The 'Nature Hates a Tosser' campaign is the first executed by 303 MullenLowe since being appointed by NSW EPA earlier this year after a competitive pitch. Utilising its strong behaviour change expertise, the agency undertook extensive research to ensure its approach would engage the male target demographic aged 18-44.

It then worked closely with NSW EPA and the Litter Prevention Unit to deliver a campaign strategy, creative platform and communications architecture, while also executing all production.

NSW EPA director of corporate affairs, Vanessa Grimm, said, “Tosser has been highly successful at driving home litter prevention messages since first airing in 2014. But we know that despite these efforts, there is still a group within our communities that will litter using excuses like ‘there wasn’t a bin nearby’ or ‘it’s only a small wrapper or bottle top’.

“We hope by showing that nature is watching and angry, these litterers will understand and acknowledge the impact their littering has, and ultimately change their behaviour. We’re excited to see this come to life across multiple platforms and formats.”

'Nature Hates a Tosser' is the latest in a string of behaviour change campaigns executed by 303 MullenLowe, which has received multiple accolades for its work in the area.

These include a Silver Effie for ‘Insight and Strategic Thinking’ and a Bronze ‘Positive Change’ Effie for its 'Arrows' campaign developed with the Cancer Institute NSW at the 2024 Australian Effie Awards. It also scooped two Bronze Effies at the Australian Effie Awards in 2022 for its ‘One Drink’ campaign developed for the WA Mental Health Commission in collaboration with Cancer Council WA.