These Nuts May Contain Traces of Plastic: Plastic Change Gets Ballsy on World Environment Day

Jun. 04, 2026

"May contain traces of nuts" is a universal disclaimer on food packaging and for those people with life-threatening allergies, it's a vital warning about hidden toxic ingredients. But we should all be concerned about traces of something even more harmful that's been sneaking into our bodies, including our most private parts: microplastics. To shine a light on how the plastic pollution crisis is directly threatening male fertility, Danish NGO Plastic Change has launched a suitably ballsy campaign: These Nuts May Contain Traces of Plastic.

Created by independent creative agency Worth Your While, the campaign takes a familiar food alert and twists it into a provocative double-meaning. It follows the release of Netflix documentary in March; The Plastic Detox, which drew widespread attention to the reproductive health implications of microplastics, and aims to take the conversation out of streaming and into the real world.

The campaign centres on a series of deliberately shocking OOH executions across Denmark. Hyper-real, close-up visuals of wrinkled testicle skin are presented like packaging, complete with nutrition-style labels listing microplastics as an "ingredient," alongside potential side effects including infertility, hormone disruption and reduced sperm count. Part visual gag, part health warning, the campaign is designed to stop people in their tracks, acting as a kick in the nuts.

Behind the provocative visuals - created by digital imagery studio We Are Eli - lies a serious message, backed up by credible research. Microplastics have been found in semen, testicles, and even penile tissue, with preliminary findings showing that men with microplastics in their testicular tissue have sperm counts roughly half those of men without. Meanwhile, microplastic accumulation has been shown to suppress testosterone and the hormones that control male fertility, disrupting the body’s reproductive system at its root. Global sperm counts have declined by more than 50% over the past half century, with environmental factors, including plastic exposure, increasingly under scrutiny as contributors to this growing fertility crisis. Yet despite mounting scientific evidence, awareness of the issue remains low, particularly among men. 

Worth Your While’s creative strategy taps into a key behavioural insight: many men disengage from environmental messaging. By reframing microplastics as a direct threat to male fertility, the campaign transforms a distant global issue into something immediate and personal: their own bodies. 

This year, Plastic Change is asking men to think hard about what else they might be passing on and what needs to change before they do.

Henrik Beha Pedersen, founder of the NGO Plastic Change and environmental biologist said:

"We are left in the darkness, not only men and their testicles, but humans in general, are left alone with microplastics in our bodies. We know that tiny plastic particles are invading our bodies. No one protects us from the health consequences. Plastic is not regulated by law. It’s a disgrace. The EU just backed down on a planned revision of the chemicals law REACH and thereby also the intention to make plastic polymer registration mandatory. The industry pressure has a direct and unacceptable effect; humans are not protected against microplastics in our bodies. We need a plastic change. Otherwise we walk on towards an unknown future."

 

Tim Pashen, creative director & partner, Worth Your While added:

"Environmental campaigns often struggle because the consequences feel distant, abstract or someone else’s problem. We wanted to find a way to make the issue impossible to ignore by connecting it to something deeply personal. The creative leap was taking a familiar packaging warning and turning it into a warning about our own bodies. If microplastics are showing up in places as intimate as testicular tissue, then plastic pollution is no longer just an environmental issue, it’s a human issue. Sometimes the most effective way to start a serious conversation is with an idea that makes people laugh, wince and think all at the same time."

 

These Nuts May Contain Traces of Plastic launches on World Environment Day -  Friday 5th June - and will roll out across OOH, alongside social, PR and earned media.

These Nuts May Contain Traces of Plastic is the latest campaign from Plastic Change and Worth Your While, following the Bottle Bulge campaign in August 2025.