As debates intensify around the use of pesticides in France and worldwide, Terre d’Abeilles–a French nonprofit NGO, founded in 2002, advocating for the survival of honey bees and other pollinators–has teamed with TBWA\Paris to sound the alarm about a largely overlooked reality–how the ecological crisis of a world without bees would impact household purchasing power.
To make this threat tangible, an unprecedented initiative was carried out at the Chauvigny market, in the heart of France–for one day, fruit and vegetable prices were multiplied by 15.
This film–directed by Mehdi Manser via TBWA\Paris’ in-house AV production agency \Else–depicts shoppers in disbelief at the prices of fresh produce. Bees impact much more than just honey. The issue goes far beyond environmental protection as everyday food would become an unaffordable luxury.
Each year in France, nearly one-third of honeybee colonies are wiped out or severely weakened by use of certain chemical substances. And research shows that 10% of European wild bee species are now threatened with extinction: a 123% increase in just a decade.
Yet for many people, this disappearance still feels like a distant concern. In everyday life, there always seem to be more urgent priorities: rising fuel costs, increasing grocery bills, tighter end-of-month budgets.
What often goes unnoticed is that these issues are all connected. The disappearance of bees is both an environmental and economic emergency.
