Day by day, we’re shaping our post-pandemic realities by tentatively returning to pre-lockdown habits or sticking with new behaviours we’ve discovered we prefer during lockdown. Still, for many South Africans, the main topic of conversation over the past few months has been our desire ‘to go back to normal’.
Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on our country, it has also given us an opportunity to think differently, and talk about re-imagining and rebuilding our country in better ways.
Picking up on this idea of rebuilding a new, healthier normal is Africa’s leading health food restaurant chain, KAUAI, which has just launched its ‘Don’t go back to abnormal’ conversation-starter campaign.
Setting up its billboards in the midst of the country’s fast-food valleys, KAUAI is provoking thought around the ways that we have normalised things that we know deep down aren’t serving us.
Says Dean Kowarski, KAUAI CEO, “If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that we’re living in a world where our health cannot be taken for granted. Unfortunately, junk food laden with sugar and trans-fats, preservatives and additives has become a lifestyle standard for many, and tragically, an aspiration for millions more. KAUAI is calling this out as abnormal.”
“For us, healthy eating is normal – enjoying fresh, natural, delicious whole foods with fruit and veggies that support your immune system and improve your overall health.”
#DontGoBackToAbnormal is a platform for South Africans to start conversations that matter. What is really good for us, and worth taking forward? What is not serving us and should be left behind?
Says Kowarski, “KAUAI is calling out bad eating habits as abnormal, but we want this campaign to spark different broader conversations about other abnormal situations that South Africans have accepted as normal in their everyday lives. We want to challenge South Africans to reflect on what they think is abnormal and what they would like to change going forward. ”It’s true that we are creatures of habit; but we can also pivot quickly when it comes to making new, better habits. What do you think is abnormal, and what do you want to change going forward?”
