South Africa’s lonely finger gets happy

March 9, 2006 - AdFreak

A mystery of sorts has been cleared up in South Africa. For three months, people have been directed to a Web site called Lonely Finger, where a finger with a sad face has recounted, in a sort of depressing scrapbook, its desolate life without any friends.

The site has been a big hit, inspiring all sorts of heartfelt condolences, including scores of poems and illustrations e-mailed in by young people. This week it’s been revealed that it’s an ad campaign for a national radio station called 5fm. A new TV spot has been released, in which the finger cheers up—not with a heavy dose of Zoloft but by reconnecting with his four buddies in a disco hall. The tagline is: “Life’s better with 5.” The campaign was done by Net#work BBDO and digital agency Gloo.