Environmental concerns have never been top of the agenda at Daily Mail news conferences. If anything, editor in chief Paul Dacre is something of a "flat earther" on green issues, according to his staff. But, love it or loathe it, no rival paper knows the power of a short, sharp consumer campaign better than the Associated Newspapers powerhouse. It has been the unerring ability of Dacre and his team to identify those touch points that prick the conscience of their middle England readership.

So it has hijacked the campaign to ban plastic carrier bags and looks set to chalk up any resulting ban as a victory.

Daily Mail insiders say its campaign to "banish the bags", launched over 10 pages on Tuesday and followed up with seven yesterday, was cooked up by senior editorial staff and rubber stamped by Dacre. "It's his paper, he's right behind it," said its managing editor, Charles Garside.

"Everyone thinks they can pigeonhole the Mail and then they'll do something like their Stephen Lawrence campaign. It is counter-intuitive," said John Humphrys, the BBC presenter who helped launch the campaign with an opinion piece.

It ticks the requisite boxes. First, it is eminently winnable and has a clear, achievable goal. By having Marks & Spencer lined up to respond and charge for plastic bags almost as soon as the campaign began, it was able to claim an early score. "It's easy for people to sneer, that would mean that no one did anything," said Garside. "It is something that can have a great effect."

It will only take one or two other supermarkets - all aware of the purchasing power of the Mail's female-skewed readership - to follow suit and victory will be claimed. Retail PR executives confirm the Mail is the most heavily courted by the big supermarkets and food manufacturers for its ability to influence consumer spending.

Second, the timing is right. The rest of the media and public opinion was already blowing in the right direction and the Mail knew a last concerted push would achieve results. Modbury, the Devon town where plastic bags are banned, has become a cause celebre. It was mentioned just five times in the preceding year by the Mail. Yesterday it got two pages.

Third, this was not a nebulous campaign against global warming but an issue that tugged at the heart strings of the Mail's animal loving, litter hating readership.

"It's bang on the middle England button. And there's nothing wrong with that," said Humphrys. As an added bonus it worked pictorially, providing page upon page of plastic bag-strewn rural landscapes and struggling animals.

Fourth, it conformed to the maxim: if you're going to do something, do it big. Weeks in the planning, readers could send off for their own free "eco shopping bag" and a free glossy wallchart.

"Newspapers have got to have an antenna that reacts to the mood of readers and what they're thinking," said Garside.