Greenpeace Gameifies Its Genetically Enhanced Food Campaign in China With iPhone App

Greenpeace has released a Chinese-language app aimed at educating folks in China on the creeping presence of genetically enhanced (GE) food in our diet. It focuses on what popular food brands are doing with GE foodstuffs, and makes use of gamification and social media sharing to get people engaged and spreading the word.

The app, called Good Food Spirits in Chinese, centres around a ‘game’ of discovery about international and local food companies operating in China, such as Heinz (NYSE:HNZ) and Kraft (NYSE:KFT), and is ‘hosted’ by a cute little monster/spirit called NoGeMo who loves non-GE food.

The gaming element is actually really gimmicky, and doesn’t really work unless you allow the app to sync up with one of three local social networks – Sina’s (NASDAQ:SINA) Weibo, Renren (NYSE:RENN), or Kaixin. It incorporates Apple’s Game Center so that scores and game progress can be shared with friends. There’s also a news section to this app, which – to be frank – is quite sufficient for conveying info. This is, afterall, an educational app. Yes, the whole ‘game’ aspect felt pointless and patronising to me, but then I can be rather too grumpy.

The app contains Greenpeace’s info on over 400 food brands and 20 supermarkets, and was made by the developers Mobile Now. The game studio’s Liam Winston commented:

We strongly felt a gaming component would make the learning experience a more enjoyable one, whilst still arming the consumer with the insights that they need to make an informed choice on GE.

The app seems to be available worldwide, but it’s still only in Chinese; find it on iTunes.