When a campaign for “The Bridge of Death” backfires

Sammy Lau

Group creative director

Dentsu Hong Kong

HOT: S-Oil – Here balloon

In 2012, S-Oil promoted its smart energy saving and carbon reduction campaign “HERE” in a parking lot, where a slew of arrow-shaped balloons were tied to each parking space to signal drivers to unoccupied spaces. The balloons were pulled down when a car was parked and lifted again when the car moved away. It aimed to reduce gas emissions by saving the time drivers spent on searching for empty spaces.

What a simple and low-tech idea to achieve sustainability and energy efficiency, while at the same time it helped build an environmentally friendly corporate image. As for the reason I liked this campaign? It’s because I am also a car owner.

NOT: Bridge of Life – Samsung Life Insurance

The “Bridge of Life” public service campaign was jointly created by Samsung Life and Seoul City, which aimed to wash away the stained reputation of Mapo Bridge, nicknamed “The Bridge of Death”. But in 2013 alone it saw 93 suicides, a six-fold rise in comparison with the year before (15 suicides).Unfortunately, the campaign may have backfired with the bridge seeing a sudden rise in popularity that turned it into a suicide hot spot – a surprisingly counterproductive result for both the city and the agency.

Correction: Cheil Worldwide has responded (see below) to these statistics, saying  out of 93, 85 people were talked out of jumping, with only 8 people actually having jumped. See more details of the statistics here.