Zero Views, Zero Likes: Heineken imagines life after social media where influencers are left deserted and everyone else is having a blast.
You probably know this because you are one of them, but the average adult spends almost 6 hours each day on their phones. The culprit is known: social media and more specifically doomscrolling. Heineken thinks that needs to change and has launched a new campaign encouraging people to ditch their phones and socializes more in person.
“Social off socials” depicts a world post-social, with deserted influencers, zero likes, zero views and no followers. It starts on an empty highway with abandoned cars, quiet streets and influencers who no longer influence because they are no longer getting any views or likes.
A question keeps coming back: “where is everybody?”
The scene repeats itself, starring singer stars Joe Jonas and influencers Dude with Sign (begging for followers), Lil Cherry or Paul Olima. Finally, as it starts raining and the day looks like it can only get worse for the influencers, the camera turns to a lit-up Heineken sign and soon after to the inside of a bar where dozens of happy people are drinking (Heineken of course!) and socializing.
As it turns out, everybody was at the bar, without phones.
“Championing social life is at the core of what we do,” says Nabil Nasser, global head of the Heineken brand, during an interview with Fast Company. “And addressing the barriers to social life, the enemies of social life, is at the core of this campaign.”
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Heineken commissioned a study of 17,000 adults of legal drinking in the U.S., U.K., and seven other international markets and found that more than half of adults feel overwhelmed keeping up-to-date with social media. Nearly two-thirds say they are nostalgic for the 1990s when there were no smartphones.
The sign-off is telling: Heineken, social networking since 1873.
