Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

So who, exactly, deserves to die? People with tattoos and people to who like cats were among those highlighted in a bizarre teaser campaign. For a viral campaign it was decidedly odd in that it was promoted by posters – remember those? – and not via social media. The campaign, nonetheless, referred people to a website where it was reassuringly declared that no-one deserves to die. However, we were assued, thousands of people do die due to a deadly disease. This was all accompanied by a clock with a countdown until the time when the particular disease this viral campaign was aimed at would be revealed.

The campaign certainly stoked controversy, but the charity backed down from the teaser element and revealed itself as Lung Cancer Alliance before the countdown was over.

Backing down from a deliberately provocative campaign and revealing a teaser element early made the charity seem weak.

Provocative and controversial campaigns are a common theme in brandjacking – think of the disturbing imagery in Give the Orangutan a Break. It seems as though Lung Cancer Alliance may have pushed people too far with its 'deserve to die' campaign.