The Kiwis have again showed they’re the masters of comedy when it comes to ads, this time turning the very difficult subjects of online pornography, cyber bullying and even child grooming into a series of spectacularly funny ads.
Called “Keep it real online”, the campaign includes four spots and is an initiative of the New Zealand government which aims to provide tips and advice for parents and caregivers about how to manage children, teens and their exposure to online harm.
The work of creative agency Motion Sickness, the first of the ads sees two porn stars named Sue and Derek arrive on the doorstep of a boy’s house, completely naked, much to the surprise of mother Sandra, who answers the door in her dressing gown.
After telling Sandra her teenage son had been watching their “work” online, Sue adds: “We normally perform for adults, but your son’s just a kid. He might not know how real relationships actually work.
“We don’t even talk about consent, do we? We just get straight to it,” she says.
Before Derek adds: “No, and I’d never act like that in real life.”
Check out the four spots below:
Sam Stuchbury, creative director at Motion Sickness said of the campaign: “We’ve been blown away by the response so far. Obviously the issues we are tackling within the campaign are sensitive, so to see the campaign land so well with parents has been amazing.
“It’s been a busy few weeks for us, we came up with the full campaign within about four days and then managed to get the campaign live within four weeks of winning the work. We’re super pleased with the result and response from Kiwis.
“We’ve had over 1000 organic shares on social and 100,000 video views, mainly organic, in the first three days fo the campaign.
“We are targeting parents and caregivers over the next six weeks. The campaign is rolling out across TV, OOH, print, social media and wider digital, so it’s going to be pretty visible throughout New Zealand.”
There’s even a social media iteration of the campaign, too:
Hilary Ngan Kee, head of strategy and partner at Motion Sickness added: “Conversations aren’t necessary being had about these issues across New Zealand’s dinner tables, or in the car on the school run – not in the same way that we have conversations around things like road safety, or stranger danger. We wanted to create a campaign that wouldn’t just bring awareness to the specific issues our young people face online, but would give parents an ‘in’ for starting what can be quite intimidating or difficult conversations.
“In each scenario, our parent is confronted with their worst online nightmare, right on their doorstep. But the most important thing is they stay cool, calm, and collected. The same skills they use in real life, such as open communication and level-headedness, still apply to these new digital issues. Parents should feel confident when dealing with these issues – at the end of the day, they’re the best person to keep their child safe. You don’t need to have all the answers, but supporting your child and giving that ‘adult’ guidance as they navigate the choppy waters of the online world will really make a difference.
“As Kiwis, we often use humour to help us deal with difficult subjects. In some ways it gives us back the power. If we can laugh at something, then perhaps it’s not so scary, perhaps we can tackle it a bit better than we originally thought we could. It was important to us to include a bit of offbeat humour in our ad creative. The fact we could cast some truly talented NZ comedians was a bonus.
“It’s been really rewarding to work with such knowledgeable subject matter experts and champions, who ultimately are all passionate about the same thing – keeping kiwi kids safe online. They were brave enough to choose something a bit bold and different, if that was what was going to make the most difference. A lot of work happens behind the scenes on these issues, and to be able to bring them to life (literally) and to get them in front of people was a responsibility that we took seriously. It’s one of those projects that we’re just really proud to be a part of.”
