Follow The Frog Campaign Analysis

Since the advent of the digital era, the attention span of the individual has decreased over time (Gausby 46). Also, as the article by Rothenberg elucidates, there is a burgeoning of mechanisms like ad-block that enables viewers to skip advertisements completely (Rothenberg). As a result, any non-profit wishing to promote awareness is compelled to make unique attention-grabbing commercials that are watched across the globe: commercials that live lives of their own, breathing, transforming and evolving in the minds of the viewer. The Rainforest Alliance’s shamelessly amusing yet culturally relevant three minute long video for the “Follow the Frog” campaign fits this criteria perfectly: it delightfully lampoons its very audience of office-workers

This is a well-produced commercial made by the same Rainforest Alliance that made the “follow the frog” campaign. It depicts the problems of depleting rainforests and demonstrates how the Rainforest Alliance is making an effort to help this cause. However, as of October 28, it has just 16,948 views (The Rainforest Alliance, The Rainforest Needs You). In contrast, the Follow the frog video has 5,143,541 views - over 300 times as many views (The Rainforest Alliance, Follow the Frog). That is over 300 times the impact on the current generation of slackitivist internet users. The average internet user’s attention span is short, and to get the user to make a change in their lives, a commercial has to make the viewer feel that he’s doing almost nothing different from usual. The follow the frog campaign does just this - it beautifully combines logos, pathos and ethos to convince the viewer that they just have to look a little longer in the grocery store to prevent the depletion of the rainforests of the world. It is a work of art that lives a life of its own, breathing, transforming and evolving in the minds of the viewer. This is what a commercial with a strong purpose, good direction, smart rhetorical appeals and a hilarious script can do. Maybe more advertising agencies should start following “Follow the