"Deeply disturbing. And ironic that it takes entering private information to see the dangers of entering private information." —juror Kelly Goto
"By far the creepiest social media project I've seen. People will never again think of online privacy the same way." —juror Keith Butters
Overview: Launched two weeks before Halloween, with the words, "I dare you," this haunting, live-action site entices people to connect via Facebook. Then, with permission from the user, Take This Lollipop trolls through personal information (photos, friend lists, news feeds) and plugs the data into a web video starring a sweaty, disheveled degenerate who logs in to Facebook under the user's name and trolls through reams of their information including, at the end of the video, their location. The action fades to a countdown clock and the name of one of the user's Facebook friends, stating that they're next.
• It took a very small team one month to complete the project (from script to final product).
• Facebook also announced the new timeline feature in the middle of development; the team was thankful that it took a while to roll out.
• With over 80 million visits and 12 million Facebook "likes," it was the fastest growing Facebook app of all time.
Comments by Jason Zada:
Was the subject of this project a new one for you? "I'm a huge fan of horror and of Halloween, and I really felt like this was a great opportunity to focus on Halloween and mix it with the underlying fear of privacy that we have nowadays with Facebook and other social networking sites. I think people seeing their personal information shared, with a man they wouldn't want to share it with, was both eye-opening and scary. People have done Facebook Connect campaigns before but this offered a seamless connection to real-world use and, I think, crossed a line that made people wonder whether it was real or fake."
Did you learn anything new during the process? "Simplicity and focus really are key to successful projects. Sometimes clients and agencies can be their own worst enemies and complicate a project by losing sight of the original core idea. What I love about Lollipop was that there was nothing in the way of doing the one thing we set out to do...and doing it well."
How did time constraints affect your final solution? "Time was on our side. We had both limited time and a limited budget and they helped out with the creative approach and final execution. Sometimes, limitations can really be your friend."
