“Take This Lollipop” – Facebook Privacy Awareness

Created in 2011, Take this Lollipop was a Facebook App and interactive horror clip that was designed at a time when social media had become increasingly fashionable, bringing with it a host of security and privacy concerns, of which many users were not aware. The persuasive message in the clip is about encouraging users to be careful with how much information they supply to these social networks. Data, from pictures to location, are used to involve the user in the story depicted. The man in the clip begins by searching through the person’s profile, delving deeper into their information, finally resorting to entering a car and journeying to the user’s location.

The advert uses the Interactive Experiment template, and more specifically, the “Activation Version” (Goldenberg, Mazurksy and Solomon, 1999). By clicking on the lollipop at the start, the viewer is physically interacting with the message, enhancing its persuasive value. Only then can they view the message in the advert, which provides a further interactive element, through incorporating the viewer in the narrative.  

As a side note, it is interesting to note that the taking of the lollipop is a direct reference to the classic warning of “don’t take candy from strangers”, highlighting the fact that the internet is just as dangerous as real life in this respect.

Below is a link to the web page, through which you can interact with the clip:

http://www.takethislollipop.com/

Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Solomon, S. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing science, 18, 333-351.