It's cool to be clean

Two lovable cartoon characters are hoping to encourage the kingdom's residents to dispose their garbage bags properly in a new public cleanliness campaign launched in Bahrain's South and Middle Municipalities.

Street smart Sameer and funny guy Azooz are the new ambassadors of change trying to spread the message of 'Keep your hood cool, keep your bins full' through humour and common sense.

They are being introduced to the public this month in 'Trash Monster Mayhem', the first episode in an animation series scripted by local comedian and artist Ali Fingerz, in an initiative launched by waste management company, Sphinx Services.

The designer of these drivers of change, Marius de Jager, creative director at B.Media Gulf, said that the main challenge was to get people to do something very basic as dropping the garbage bag into the bin in the street and avoid piling bags around it. He said: "It is something that everybody is aware of ... but the moment you ask someone to do something it is taken negatively.

"We have to use creative ways to get the point across. If we can get people laughing at certain situations I think it can do the trick. So we created two characters with local names, who do not represent any nationality, religion or culture.

"The bottom line is 'keep it cool' - keep your bin cool and keep your hood cool. And, that it is cool to have a clean country."

Azooz was sketched in one go and represents a naughty little guy like someone's kid brother. Sameer went through a number of changes. He was initially a professor, and then a superstar and a super hero and ended up as a teenager who is street smart and cool. His hairstyle and looks were inspired by those sported by trendy young men spotted regularly in the kingdom's many malls.

The characters, one tall and one short, always interact with each other and do not talk directly to the public in an authoritative way but can be found in humorous situations involving garbage. They are targeting the younger generation who it is believed can influence change in the house.

Marius added: "They are young people with whom you could laugh with and who could at the same time help you rectify or change your behaviour rather than say, if you do this I will fine you 10 dinars.

"The key here is to make both of them very endearing. Though you will see that Azooz keeps getting into messy situations, he is such a lovable guy that you want him to be saved and be alright in the end. We also felt that these interactions would keep the stories going and give the campaign legs.

"One of the reasons we made these characters is that we wanted to use young people to take the message home. Essentially we hope people will start believing in a tidy Bahrain and understand it is not cool to allow rubbish to pile up outside bins.

"Today, we see that many changes at home are driven by young people. You change your TV because your son says so. You paint your house pink because your daughter is going through that phase.

"It is mainly in Arabic so that the young kid in Riffa and Isa Town is attracted to it and can take the message back home, talk about it and hopefully make the parents or whoever is giving the instructions to the maid aware."

In six to eight months time Sameer and Azooz will start to talk more about the environmental issues related to recycling.

The documentaries are in Arabic with English subtitles and can be viewed on interactive websites and social networking sites - Facebook and Twitter. Posters are also displayed in local cold stores, community centres and health centres, on compactors and waste collection bins. Events are also planned in schools and malls where T-shirts, stickers, name labels and educational DVDs are being distributed.

For more information log on to www.sameerandazooz.org