An advertising agency is making light of air pollution in China

A Chinese advertising agency has partnered with pollution a mask manufacture to gamify the process of checking pollution levels, offering bigger discounts to the worst affected.

We have seen gamification used to incentivise the things that nobody enjoys. In a bid to raise awareness about traffic offenses in China, authorities gamified the highway code by retracting fines from those who could correctly answer on the spot questions. And, in the UK a company used games to motivate call centre employees. Now, in China, an advertising agency has collaborated with fog mask brand, Kobayashi, to metaphorically lift the cloud created by dangerous air pollution levels with a new game, Air Pollution Discount.

In China, PM 2.5 Air Quality Index levels are broadcast every day. Quite often they rise to unhealthy levels and for those living in such conditions, monitoring the levels can be distressing. In response to this, advertising agency Dentsu has collaborated with a famous fog mask maker, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to gamify the process of tracking air pollution levels. Air Pollution Discount is a game that pins pollution levels to discounts on air masks. The higher the air pollution, the greater the discount on Kobayashi masks. Users can check the levels on their smartphone using the app which reacts to real time data, detecting each user’s location to offer the relevant price reduction. It then dispenses a coupon which can be used on China’s biggest e-commerce portals.

The game is designed to encourage users to share their discounts using social media, lifting the mood and, as the website explains, “Helping China smile through the fog.” What will be the next stage of gamification?