This supermarket is using embarrassment to encourage the use of reusable bags

The power of shame.

Getting caught without your keep cup or reusable bag can bring on a very special kind of guilt.

But no matter how much we want to help the planet, a lot of us still forget our trusty reusables more often than we’d like to admit.

To give shoppers extra incentive to remember, a supermarket in Canada has started handing out the most embarrassing plastic bags possible.

Designed by Rethink Agency, the bags feature logos for fake businesses selling wart ointment, adult videos and colon care products.

The idea is to discourage customers from accepting a plastic bag if they’ve come unprepared.

Of course, there’s plenty of people who find the bags hilarious, and would be more than happy to pay 5 cents a bag and collect the set. But here’s hoping they treasure them for more than one use, and use them to foster conversation about consumption and the environment.