Forever Beta has created a film requesting businesses to stop using the term "cookies" as a way of protecting children from sharing their data online.
“Don’t call it cookies” promotes the creative agency’s new plug-in for businesses that automatically changes the phrase to the less yummy "data collectors" as well as its change.org petition, which urges the government to go further in stopping the use of the misleading term.
Following a conversation with his 10-year-old daughter, the agency’s chief creative officer Paulo Areas realised that the next generation are not educated enough on the serious nature of data collection and that the term "cookies" can be taken to mean something else entirely.
The 90-second ad shows a cookie campaigning for the word to be changed, pitching a manifesto to a stadium of the chocolate chip treats.
“What do you expect to happen when you ask kids to accept cookies, that they will think twice? Of course not. They’re kids, and look at me – chocolaty and delicious,” the cookie says. “That is what kids think of when they hear the word cookie.”
The spot was made in collaboration with London animators, and aptly named, Cookie Studio featuring sound by Canja Audio Culture in Brazil.
It follows the UK Government releasing the details of the Online Advertising Programme Consultation, which noted a “lack of transparency in the online advertising ecosystem”.
There were also concerns raised by respondents about unethical targeting and many said that online advertising felt overly personal and invasive.
For children, “the emotional connotation of the word cookies is huge. We go directly to thinking about chocolates and delicious cookies,” said Areas about his motivation behind the campaign. “How are we expecting them to not only say no, but to think about the meaning of it.”
“We all leave a digital footprint behind us when we go online, but as adults, we are responsible for our acts and decisions. Children, on the other hand, shouldn’t be misled into giving up their data without fully understanding the impact it will bring on their lives,” Areas added.
“Through this campaign we are aiming to empower the next generation to make informed decisions about who they share their data with online and restore the word ‘cookies’ to its original chocolaty goodness.”
Areas noted that he wanted to achieve a number of things through the campaign, adding that he knew it would be a hard task to get the term changed. “If we managed to do that, it would be amazing,” he said, “but more than that, most people aren’t talking about it”.
“If you ask me what it is that I’m trying to achieve, I really wanted people to be talking about this around the dinner table.”
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