Packaging forSocial Impact
Packaging forSocial Impact
In a state built by everyone, who gets tobelong? And what can a vada pav doabout it?
THE PROBLEM
Maharashtra runs on migrant work, yet 84 lakh of its migrants don't speak Marathi. Through 2025, that gap turned into public assaults on cab drivers, shopkeepers and commuters. Language had become a way to decide who belongs.
THE RESEARCH
As a team of five, we paired desk research with 12 interviews across Pune: migrant and native drivers, vendors and students. Migrants coped by staying silent. Locals felt their language and identity were being ignored.
THE REFRAME
Don't ask migrants to learn Marathi.Get locals to welcome them.
Language classes put the burden on the people already being pushed out. So the design talks to Maharashtrians instead, through something they're already proud of.
FROM INSIGHTTO IDEA
Insight
Idea
Migrants stay silent to stay safe. They avoid conversation with locals entirely.
So they can't be the ones to break the ice. Locals have to.
Locals' anger is about respect more than fluency. They feel their language is being ignored.
So instead of lecturing the migrants, make welcoming others feel like the real Marathi pride.
By day, both sides already share the street: the same autos, stalls and the same snacks.
So we have to meet them there, on the one thing both already love: vada pav, which is truly Marathi at core, but loved by all.
THE EXECUTION
Vada pav is Marathi at its core, loved across India and sold for ₹30, so it became the bridge. The box is printed like a Marathi street newspaper, with headlines about vada pav bringing Maharashtra's communities together. You open your snack and read about unity, framed as Marathi pride. The same identity runs across a चटNEY (chutney) sachet, a food truck and billboards.
Want to dive into theproject and get a look?
Check out the full projectNEXT UP
