The Queensland, Australia, health department commissioned research into what people thought about all the dietary info they were being bombarded with on social media. They discovered that there was a lot of confusion out here. Mainly due to social media influencers, people were often at a loss as to what would, and wouldn’t, actually help them lose weight and live healthier lives. Queensland Health needed a campaign to clear up all this misinformation.
Looking through several influencer social media pages, there was all manner of messaging – from ads with a high-end production video selling the latest weight loss pill, to earnest, one-on-one style videos with influencers trying to create a deep connection with their sometimes-naive followers.
The best way to achieve cut through was to go back to the basics and present the information in the most bare-bones way possible. Not only would this make the messages easily understandable, but it would put a spotlight on all these other lies for what they really were – completely outrageous and lacking any form of common sense. The goal was to enable viewers to remember the basic, solid rules of thumb that they had forgotten over the years. The campaign would also act as a good common-sense base for young people looking to establish their knowledge on the subject.
The scripts created were as simple and bare bones as possible. To follow suit, the art direction and production were also scaled back to the basics. In fact, everything was drawn by hand, from the Queensland Government logo to the body copy. There was also a website where people could go and find the basic facts presented in simple, easily understandable, and shareable animations.
The results were excellent, with many people challenging these influencers in the comments sections of their own social posts – sometimes even directly quoting the campaign’s basic messages. The Queensland Health team remarked how amazing it was that people now had the confidence to not only recognise the lies they were being shown online, but to influence the conversation for the better.
