A Sinhalese newspaper, the «Mawbima», has launched an innovative and original campaign to combat the spread of dengue, a tropical infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes. Sri Lanka is one of the countries most affected by dengue fever - more than 30 people infected in 2013 - for which, since there is no effective vaccination, the only possible prevention is the elimination of mosquitoes and their habitat.
To devise the campaign – of which you can have an essay on Youtube – was the local branch of the US advertising agency Leo Burnett, whose unusual gimmick was to print the newspaper with anti-mosquito ink.
A common ink, which acquires this property when citronella, a natural repellent against mosquitoes, is mixed with it. The idea was inspired by the observation that a newspaper is usually read either early in the morning or in the evening, moments in which one is most exposed to mosquito bites.
The campaign, announced for days by posters posted on the street and sprinkled with citronella, culminated, during the National Week against Dengue, in the edition of the newspaper entirely printed in mosquito-repellent ink and full of informative articles on the disease. Despite the significantly increased circulation compared to the usual one, the edition sold out at ten in the morning, recording an increase of 300 readers.
