Procter & Gamble has teamed up with social media influencer Charli D’Amelio to promote a different kind of dance challenge: the “distance dance.”
The challenge, starting out on social media platform Tik Tok, comes amid the Covid-19 lockdown, and encourages people to share their dances from home.
Dancing has become a go-to strategy for people and organisations to advocate for safety and prevention measures amid the ongoing public health crisis.
D’Amelio is currently Tik Tok’s most followed creator in the world, and by participating in the #distancedance challenge, D’Amelio’s followers can generate sponsored donations to Feeding America and Matthew 25: Ministries.
Both organisations are currently working to serve at-risk populations that have been hit hard by the proliferation of COVID-19.
“Stay home & do the #distancedance,” D’Amelio captioned the post on Tuesday. “Tag me & the hashtag in your video. P&G will donate to Feeding America & Matthew 25 for first 3M videos.”
At the end of the video, D’Amelio added this on-screen caption: “Inhale, exhale, breathe slow, rewind. stay at home!”
The words come, in part, from the lyrics of “Big Ups” by Jordyn and Nic Da Kid Ft. Ying Nnelg, the song to which the “distance dance” is set.
The campaign was developed by FMCG giant Procter & Gamble in partnership with agency Grey.
All parties donated their time for the campaign, and TikTok also donated the media for the cause.
“Our intent is to be useful by encouraging people to keep their distance and stay home,” said Marc Pritchard, Procter & Gamble’s chief brand officer. “We wanted to find a creative way to engage people and inspire them to take action so they could stay safe and healthy.”
Since launching last week, #DistanceDance has achieved more than eight billion views and 1.7 million imitation dances from celebrities, college mascots, all of the major sports leagues, influencers, children, families and more.
The effort has triggered many donations, with P&G promising to donate to Feeding America and Matthew25 for the first three million videos. The next phase of the program will kick off later this week on other social platforms to continue getting the message out and help save lives.