Cannes Lions
MISCHIEF @ NO FIXED ADDRESS, Brooklyn / SCAM SPOTTER / 2022
Overview
Entries
Credits
Execution
To raise awareness for a prevalent gift card phone scam, “Grandchild in Jail” – which targets an older, susceptible population – we created a Hollywood blockbuster–style dramatization of the scam. The film opens as a Grandmother gets a robotic-sounding call explaining her granddaughter has been incarcerated and only gift cards can pay her bail. Reacting in an over-the-top way, she breaks into an airport driving a military Humvee, steals a helicopter, parachutes into a getaway truck, and breaks into the foreign jail to set her granddaughter free - satirically using gift cards as a bail payment. The campaign thought then appears on screen: “If it sounds unbelievable, it probably is.” The film reminds the audience, “If someone asks for gift cards to solve a problem, it’s a scam” and points them to scamspotter.org to catch up on the latest current gift card scams.