“Stoner Sloth”: Lessons from Evaluation of Social Media and Virality

Macnamara, J; Kenning, G

“Stoner Sloth”: Lessons from Evaluation of Social Media and Virality

Macnamara, J

Kenning, G

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Publisher:: Peter Lang
Publication Type:: Chapter
Citation:: Public Relations Case Studies from Around the World (2nd Edition), 2017, 2nd, pp. 147 - 165
Issue Date:: 2017-09-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Macnamara, J https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1387-3882	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kenning, G https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3379-9088	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	VanSlyke Turk, J	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Valin, J	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-09-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Public Relations Case Studies from Around the World (2nd Edition), 2017, 2nd, pp. 147 - 165	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	9781433134548	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/100020
dc.description.abstract	In November 2015 the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Premier and Cabinet launched a digital campaign using social media, websites, and paid online search to reduce the incidence of recreational use of Cannabis among 14–18 year olds – the age range identified as the period in which people are most likely to first try recreational drugs. Media metrics and social media tracking of the campaign found that it was perceived to be ‘fun’ but ‘credible’ and was widely shared within the target audience in its first month when messages were highly targeted through special youth sites and paid search. But in mid-December when the videos and GIFs featured in the campaign went ‘viral’ attracting more than 3.5 million views in a few weeks, the campaign received widespread criticism in traditional media and more than 30,000 comments on social media, most of them negative. It was labelled “one of the worst campaigns of 2015” in newspaper headlines and the government terminated the campaign in mid-January 2016 and ordered a detailed independent evaluation . Subsequent in-depth quantitative and qualitative evaluation showed that the ‘edgy’ youth campaign did in fact achieve many of its objectives among 14–18 year olds, causing them to ‘think twice’ about using Cannabis and reducing perceptions that using the drug was ‘cool’. However, the campaign raised major questions about the common view that ‘going viral’ is positive (Godin, 2001; ImagePro, 2016) and provides lessons for planning digital campaigns.	en_US
dc.publisher	Peter Lang	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Public Relations Case Studies from Around the World (2nd Edition)	en_US
dc.title	“Stoner Sloth”: Lessons from Evaluation of Social Media and Virality	en_US
dc.type	Chapter
utslib.location	New York	en_US
utslib.for	1505 Marketing	en_US
utslib.citation.edition	2nd	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Computer Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CPCE - Centre for Creative Practices and the Cultural Economy
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.edition	2nd	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	New York	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

In November 2015 the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Premier and Cabinet launched a digital campaign using social media, websites, and paid online search to reduce the incidence of recreational use of Cannabis among 14–18 year olds – the age range identified as the period in which people are most likely to first try recreational drugs. Media metrics and social media tracking of the campaign found that it was perceived to be ‘fun’ but ‘credible’ and was widely shared within the target audience in its first month when messages were highly targeted through special youth sites and paid search. But in mid-December when the videos and GIFs featured in the campaign went ‘viral’ attracting more than 3.5 million views in a few weeks, the campaign received widespread criticism in traditional media and more than 30,000 comments on social media, most of them negative. It was labelled “one of the worst campaigns of 2015” in newspaper headlines and the government terminated the campaign in mid-January 2016 and ordered a detailed independent evaluation . Subsequent in-depth quantitative and qualitative evaluation showed that the ‘edgy’ youth campaign did in fact achieve many of its objectives among 14–18 year olds, causing them to ‘think twice’ about using Cannabis and reducing perceptions that using the drug was ‘cool’. However, the campaign raised major questions about the common view that ‘going viral’ is positive (Godin, 2001; ImagePro, 2016) and provides lessons for planning digital campaigns.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/100020