Punk'n teens with a fake horror flick - actually teen pregnancy PSA

"It was billed as an urban suspense thriller with a big twist. But teens in Milwaukee who have been anticipating the premiere of the new movie 2028 since late December, got a surprise they never saw coming. The movie they were expecting was really a PSA about teen pregnancy."

2028 - It finally ends - (2010) :60 (USA)

Serve Marketing cooked up the rather elaborate hoax, wanting to educate young people about the harsh realities of teen pregnancy. There was bus posters, movie trailers, the www.2028movie.com website, billboards, bogus wikipedia pages, radio stations promotions and giveaways, in short this PSA was marketed much like any Hollywood horror flick would be. The ad even stars Colleen Foy, and there's a full music soundtrack for the fake thriller out there. And yes, Facebook,

"We're trying to combat the glamorization of teen pregnancy by Hollywood," explains Serve Founder Gary Mueller. "So what better way to communicate that teen pregnancy is hard then by using a fake movie?"

Looks like it got their attention, which is half the battle: "The bold efforts, which have been criticized by some and praised by others, seem to be working as the city's teen birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row (a 10% decrease overall). Milwaukee ranks 7th in the nation for births to teens."

Don't count the chickens before they're hatched - ahem - but if the numbers keep falling, then the campaign is a success. I'm obviously not the target market, long past my teens my first reaction to the ad was simply "that's nicely edited" and "Sheesh, having a kid is not the end of the world". But even as I wish almost every day when I chase the offspring who runs faster than the wind that I was 15 years younger so that I could catch up, I know children take a lot of time, effort and need lots of love, security and mature role models - not things most sixteen year olds have in abundance. Better wait.

Full credits under the commercial, Agency: Serve Marketing, Creative Director: Gary Mueller,Writer Ross Lowinske, Art Director: Brent Goral, Ryan Smith