CorpComms Magazine

Procter & Gamble's potato chip subsidiary Pringles is marketing its shareable snack with a campaign to unmask those who share inane information on social networking sites.

The 'Help the Oversharers' campaign, developed by direct marketing agency Wunderman, takes a pop at social media junkies, urging them to conquer their addiction, stop irritating their friends and followers and 'start sharing things really worth sharing, like Pringles'.

The website parodies Twitter with a rolling 'Twovershare' feed chronicling the most banal status updates and trifling tweets from around the web, such as 'The corner shop's out of cakes' and 'I'm eating a sausage roll'. Supporters of the campaign can even 'wear the overshare' and customise a t-shirt that tells the world, '9:15 meeting. Yawn :-o' or a mug bearing the slogan, 'My biscuit fell in my tea. ROFL!'

Visitors to the site can download a Facebook 'Overshare' button which will appear alongside the options 'like' and 'comment' on friends' status updates. When the button is clicked, the author of the update receives a message directing them to the Pringles website for help and advice.

On the 'Help me stop!' page, seasoned oversharers are offered helpful advice such as, 'Think before you type: does anyone give a chip you're ironing your pants?' and 'Do cool stuff: then you'll actually have something to say.'

Setting aside the hypocrisy of the notorious mustachioed Pringles junkie, Julius Pringles, a man who famously said 'Once you pop, you can't stop,' lecturing social networkers on combating their addiction, the campaign does target a growing social phenomenon.

Martin Gent, creative director at Wunderman, said: 'We all know a few oversharers who can't resist telling us every detail of their lives, from going into a boring meeting to their kid's toilet training. This campaign is your chance to help the oversharers in the nicest way possible.'

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