Oct 02

Tribal Worldwide Creates Robotripping, Puking Robot App

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Tribal Worldwide has a new campaign discouraging teen cough syrup abuse on behalf of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.

Rather than take a typical scare-tactic approach, Tribal Worldwide instead decided to make a fun game. The game, entitled “DXM Labworks” lets players get a robot all messed up on DXM (the psychoactive ingredient, dextromethorphan, in some cough syrups) and see what the effects are like (spoiler alert: the robot pukes a lot). Billing the app as “your chance to see the effects of abusing DXM without trying it yourself,” the idea is that teens will try out the game and see an unglamorous portrayal of the effects of the drug.

“It’s not a sexy drug –- there’s loss of motor control, slurred speech and, of course, the uncontrollable puking,” Kinney Edwards, executive creative director at Tribal, explained to Mashable. “Social disapproval really matters to teens, and they can see first-hand how embarrassing and not cool this is.”

The campaign is mostly aimed at “on the fence” teens, those who are considering experimenting with the drug and perhaps researching its effects online. By presenting them with a game that simulates the effects of the drug, Tribal hopes the teens will make the judgement that DXM’s negative effects are not something they want to experience. The agency decided that teens easily dismiss PSAs but that they might be more receptive to a fun, mobile game. And what’s not fun about a robot puking?

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Nov 19

Tribal Worldwide Crafts 8-Bit Game for UNICEF’s World Toilet Day Campaign

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Have you thought about your toilet today? November 19th is World Toilet Day, and Tribal Worldwide chose today to a launch a new campaign for UNICEF called “Access Denied,” which seeks to draw attention to the lack of clean toilets worldwide. While you probably take your home or office bathroom for granted, 36% of the world’s population lives without access to a clean toilet and around one billion people worldwide must defecate out in the open.

To draw attention to this overlooked problem, Tribal Worldwide created a series of posters (examples above and below), a website, and, our favorite message-spreading tool, an 8-bit game. That’s right, to illustrate to an audience who has no idea what it’s like to find a clean, safe place to relieve themselves, Tribal Worldwide created an 8-bit game called Toilet Trek. The game in no way makes light of the issue, as during the course of the game, players are bombarded with obstacles paralleling those of individuals without ready access to a clean toilet. Players are also periodically given facts and information about the problem while advancing to new obstacles within the game. It’s a clever touch, as people who may otherwise gloss over the posters or website can be drawn in with a fun little game that is also educational.

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The game is difficult enough to take a few minutes, during which time players can learn how toilet access is linked to issues of sanitation, disease, privacy, and increased risk of sexual assault. Toilet Trek is also available on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5s, with an Android version coming soon. If you have a few minutes, give it a shot, it’s pretty fun and you may just learn something about the plights of those for whom a clean toilet is often just out of reach. And the next time you sit down on your porcelain throne, be grateful. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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