Ajinomoto’s recent 37% drop in approval from Gen Z could be traced back to one source: TikTok. That was the source of MSG conspiracies and misinformation. The brand knew that to reverse this trend, we’d have entirely on this wildly untamed platform. And we’d have to do it in a way that this skeptical community wouldn’t ignore, like they do with most ads. #CancelPizza was a carefully orchestrated TikTok campaign leveraging paid, owned and influencers to look exactly like a viral conspiracy. But hidden within the lo-fi content were actual facts about MSG safety that eventually swayed our target audience.

Ajinomoto is a Japanese food corporation, often considered “the Heinz of Japan”.

Its founding product is the seasoning monosodium glutamate (MSG), for which it is the world’s largest supplier.

Although it’s a beloved ingredient throughout most of the world and deemed safe by the World Health Organization, MSG encountered severe backlash in the United States beginning in the 1960s, fueled by rampant misinformation and anti-Asian xenophobia.

In recent years, MSG has had a renaissance in America. Large parts of the population shifted their negative views of the product, and finally MSG was winning the war on misinformation. But there was one group of Americans whose disapproval spiked, especially with the pandemic: Gen Z.

The rise of TikTok saw a surge in misinformation, and this vital audience for Ajinomoto is now skeptical of MSG’s safety.

Challenge:

In 2022, Ajinomoto saw Gen Z acceptance of MSG take a surprising 37% nosedive. The culprit? A surge of misinformation from their favorite news source: TikTok.

The wildly popular social platform had become a hotbed for conspiracy theories, and MSG was a frequent victim of these viral rants. Ajinomoto’s Gen Z target was being brainwashed to believe that this harmless seasoning was a dangerous toxin.

Brief:

Regain Gen Z’s trust in MSG and get them to understand that MSG is safe to eat.

But to do that, we would need to outsmart the algorithm and insert ourselves into their TikTok feed.

Clearly, Gen Z had an appetite for conspiracy theories, which spread on TikTok at 6x the rate of honest information.

So, to gain cut-through and attention amongst out target group, we decided to create a conspiracy theory of our own…but with an added secret ingredient: the truth.

The truth is, Gen-Z's favorite food, pizza, is loaded with naturally occurring MSG in its parmesan, tomatoes, pepperoni and garlic. Our outlandish conspiracy hinged on a simple, factual premise; if TikTok wants to cancel MSG, then they need to cancel pizza too.

#CancelPizza mimicked a viral TikTok conspiracy, but unlike other misinformed theories, ours was a stealth education campaign.

It was carefully orchestrated to look and feel like other unhinged videos, but weaved into the wild rants were cold, hard facts, which would feed unsuspecting TikTokers a lesson regarding MSG safety. The science was on our side.

In order to change the minds of our Gen Z target, we had to activate on TikTok. That was where Gen Z were, and where MSG misinformation was spreading out of control. Research told us that on TikTok, conspiracy content travels 6X faster than factual content and is 70% more likely to be shared. So in order to get our #CancelPizza messaging to be seen by large swaths of the TikTok community, it had to feel real.

We started by quietly claiming the @CancelPizza handle on TikTok.

At the centre of our social content, a direct and alarming call to action: we needed people to #CancelPizza.

From there, we assembled a roster of TikTok influencers to help share and engage with the content. Every action we took had to be 100% native to the platform. If it wasn’t, our skeptical Gen Z audience would sniff out a brand stunt immediately.

When we began releasing content from the @CancelPizza TikTok account, it looked exactly like other viral conspiracies, down to the unknown, unshaven talent and bad lighting.

We shot on iPhones, props were homemade and there was no glam team.

Each video was created in-app, using TikTok functionality to spike engagement. Green screen. Viral sounds. Trending formats. Every element was designed to look, sound and feel like native content.

#CancelPizza content was absurd, but it had a clear message: if people want to cancel MSG, the science says they should #CancelPizza too. Within every video were facts proving MSG is found naturally in pizza toppings. If viewers didn’t understand, Ajinomoto deployed credible influencers (dietitians, food scientists, etc.) to reply via Stitch or Duet, underscoring the scientific accuracy.

At the same time, influencers and Ajinomoto revealed our role, explaining why we went to such lengths to educate TikTok about MSG.

The campaign went viral , generating over 4M+ hashtag views and 51% increase in Ajinomoto TikTok followers.

Target audience first responded with confusion / outrage, then dug into the facts. There was a 5000% increase in Google searches for “is MSG healthy?” bringing GenZ to understand that MSG is a safe ingredient.

In 12 weeks we garnered 2.05B impressions nationwide, generated positive conversation on TikTok, changed 5M GenZ consumer minds and drove a 5.7% increase in sales.

IN SUMMARY:

• 5.7% sales increase

• 2.05B+ total impressions

• 46M+ hashtag views

• 5M+ Gen Z minds changed

• 423 earned media placements

• 829M+ media impressions

• 100% positive sentiment

• 39% lift in MSG favorability

• 65% lift in brand trust

• 71.4MM video views

• 48.4K engagements

• 97M social impressions

• 35% positive sentiment for earned social

• 51% increase in Ajinomoto followers on TikTok