Honest Kids · Havas Chicago · August 2026
Parents normally decide what belongs in the lunchbox. Honest Kids reverses that authority by letting children deliver brutally honest reviews of the people packing it. Parents respond through personalised notes on the packaging, turning the familiar parent-to-child message into a two-way exchange, so creating a moment when families can be honest with each other.
Challenge
Back-to-school advertising often presents an idealised picture of family life. Honest Kids wanted to connect with parents experiencing its messier reality while making the brand’s promise of honesty mean more than organic ingredients and no added sugar.
Strategy
Honest Kids turned honesty from a product attribute into a shared family behaviour. Instead of joining the category’s celebration of perfect parenting, the brand invited children to offer the unfiltered verdicts only they could deliver. Parents could then respond through personalised lunchbox notes. Giving both sides a voice allowed Honest Kids to take the side of imperfect families and transform an ordinary juice box into a small but meaningful exchange between parent and child.
Execution
At a one-day activation at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, children were invited to share their honest opinions about their parents. Their funny, affectionate and occasionally uncomfortable verdicts became campaign content.
Parents responded using a blank space on limited-edition Honest Kids packaging designed for personalised lunchbox notes. The interviews, product tastings and note-writing experience will appear across social, influencer and paid content throughout the back-to-school season, supported by Sharpie.
Campaigns That Used Similar Tactics
Unexpected Reviewers — Change who—or what—delivers the verdict
Sleep Talk Reviews — IKEA recorded customers unconsciously mumbling, grumbling and snoring while testing its mattresses, turning sleep itself into an involuntary product review.
Reverse Reviews — Art Series Hotels asked employees to review their guests and rewarded the best-rated visitors, transferring the reviewing power from customer to staff.
Role Reversal — Give the less powerful person the authority
#GoodLuckGirls — Cadbury recreated its iconic cricket advertisement with the genders reversed: a female cricketer scores the century while her boyfriend runs onto the pitch to celebrate her achievement.
#MyGameMyName — Wonder Women Tech invited prominent male gamers to play under female names, placing them in the position of women exposed to harassment while gaming online.
The Exchange — Val Venosta had an influencer and a veteran Madrid greengrocer exchange jobs for a day, giving each person responsibility for the other’s professional world.
The Question That Could Get You There
What would our children say if they were allowed to review our parenting?
