ThaiHealth remixes viral beauty trend for the dinner table

Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) is tapping into Thailand's viral "Prung jued" ('tone it down') makeup trend to encourage consumers to cut back on seasoning, turning the beauty phenomenon into a physical tool designed to influence everyday eating habits.

Created with Dentsu One Bangkok, "The less seasoned palette" borrows the visual language of a makeup palette to show consumers how much additional seasoning they should use, if any. The campaign builds on "Prung jued", a viral makeup trend centred on creating a milder or less intense look.

The initiative aims to address the habit of adding extra seasoning to food before eating, reframing ThaiHealth's longstanding health messaging through a cultural trend already gaining attention among consumers.

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Designed to resemble a colourful makeup palette, the tool features four compartments for everyday seasonings commonly added to Thai meals, including sugar, chilli flakes and fish sauce. Each compartment holds a maximum of a quarter teaspoon, giving consumers a visual reference for what using less seasoning looks like.

The first phase of the campaign saw ThaiHealth and Dentsu One Bangkok seed the palettes to selected beauty KOLs, who unboxed what initially appeared to be a conventional beauty product before revealing its health-focused purpose.

By borrowing from beauty creator culture and the familiar format of makeup unboxings, the campaign seeks to turn the broad instruction to "season less" into something consumers can more easily visualise and remember. It also encourages diners to taste their food before seasoning and, where possible, avoid adding extra seasoning altogether.

"We have been working to encourage people to reduce seasoning for many years. But what made this initiative different was the way it connected health promotion with something people were already interested in," said Supatnuj Sorndamrih, senior director of social marketing at ThaiHealth.

Sorndamrih added that turning a cultural trend into a practical everyday tool helped make healthier choices feel more relevant and easier to adopt, while demonstrating the potential for health communications to move alongside culture.

Meanwhile, Subun Khow, chief creative officer at Dentsu Creative Thailand, said the campaign takes a health topic consumers have encountered repeatedly and gives them an unexpected reason to reconsider it.

"Health is serious, but the ideas we use to change it do not always have to be," said Khow, adding that while the idea begins playfully, the intention is for it to ultimately influence consumers' choices.

"The less seasoned palette" is the latest collaboration between ThaiHealth and Dentsu One Bangkok aimed at changing seasoning habits through product design.

In 2024, the pair launched "The seasoning of change", which reimagined the seasoning sets commonly found in Thai restaurants in miniature form. The smaller containers were designed to encourage diners to reduce the amount of additional seasoning used with each meal.

The latest campaign similarly brings ThaiHealth's "Season less, reduce disease risk" message into an everyday setting, using a culturally relevant visual cue to make healthier eating behaviours easier for consumers to understand and adopt.

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