Cybersmile launches new brand to highlight harmful content online

Source: The new food brand, set up by digital abuse charity the Cybersmile Foundation as part of its latest campaign Stop The Forced Feed, is delivering boxes of “harmful products” to people around the UK. The campaign highlights the threat posed to us by the invisible algorithmic systems that dictate what we watch and read online. Recent studies by the Cybersmile Foundation found that harmful content was presented on social media platforms to adult users in as little as 16 seconds, and to children as quickly as eight minutes, without the need to search for it. This content includes racism, misogyny and violence.

Backed by this research, the charity worked with Havas SO to devise a campaign that could bring to light the hidden power that algorithms have over our online experience, and by extension, our lives. Working with the idea of being ‘force fed’ this content, they came up with a fictional food brand called Algorithm™ that could act as the perfect vessel for the messaging. Designed by Conran Design Group under the creative concept The Dark Mode, Algorithm™’s offerings include various strange and sinister food items that have been dyed black and labelled to reflect the equally dangerous things we consume online.

Products such as ‘Racist White Bread’, ‘Homophobic Grown Apples’ and ‘Free Range Misogyny’ point to the real types of content that researchers came across while conducting their studies. Ripe and ready to be shipped off to unwitting customers – much like the way in which content is delivered to us in our feeds – the organisation boxed up the food and sent it around the country.

The branded boxes arrived in a Tesco supermarket in Leicester, to be displayed on the shelves as part of an in-store activation featuring vox pops of local shoppers who encountered the food; to 10 Downing Street in the form of ‘food HARMpers’ and delivered via a special Algorithm™ branded van; and to various policymakers, journalists and influencers, with the latter participating in recorded unboxings for their followers. As part of the campaign, the Cybersmile Foundation also collaborated with Prose on Pixels on a creepy short film that ‘promotes’ the Algorithm™ brand.

Featuring shadowy shots of social media users staring at their screens, as well as imagery of the brand’s products, the visuals are accompanied by a glitchy, robotic narrator that explains their approach: “If it shocks you, we serve it. If it offends you, we stir the pot. If it hurts you, we double the portion.” Stop The Forced Feed calls for complete algorithmic control for users, and urges the government and regulatory bodies to legislate control of algorithms as a basic user right.

“When we talk about complete control, we don’t mean indicating to platforms that we want to see ‘less’ of certain types of posts or that the user ‘dislikes’ them: we want to empower users and caregivers with the tools required to protect themselves and those they care for from content that they find harmful without needing to rely on platforms and before harm takes place,” says Scott Freeman, Cybersmile CEO.

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The article discusses a significant initiative that merges brand strategy with social responsibility, making it highly relevant and impactful for professionals in the industry.