About “New Friends”

The brainstorming for this ad came largely from discussions of both the rise of the conspiracy group QAnon, as well as the participants of the January 6th Insurrection (the two often overlapping).

Participatory Disinformation is shown by one friend having engaged with a conspiratorial “anti-post office” framework with new friends. They now easily share and disseminate false information (but genuinely believes it to be true).

Radicalization is shown in that same friend having adopted (and expressing) increasingly irrational or problematic ideas, such as carrier pigeons being faster than mail trucks, and the desire to illegally storm a public building. They’ve also been disconnected from their seemingly normal variety of interests, in favor of exclusive interest in one topic.

A post office was chosen as a building that is technically governmental, but without any recent controversial associations. In fact, it is very specifically banal and innocuous. Humor was used again, as were the lead characters being existing friends. Wanting to still model healthy and compassionate communication, the grounded friend does not try to immediately dissuade the radicalized friend from their ideas, but instead extends a genuine offer of social engagement and acceptance. They are effectively offering a healthy alternative version of what the radicalized friend feels they are getting from this new group of people.