BBC “It’s not funny”

Research confirmed that's what most students mistakenly think of having to buy a Licence to watch TV in the UK. They needed a campaign to get students to understand that the consequences of watching TV at university without a licence are far from amusing. Indeed they can be quite serious, with prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000. What better solution than an idea inspired by students themselves: 'anti-humour'. It's a fast-growing underground genre on campus, with the proliferation of anti-humour websites. One describes anti-humour as,"having all the telltale signs of a joke, but just when you expect a witty punchline, you get a fact or cliché. It's funny, precisely because it isn't". They created an 'anti-humour' campaign across 30 touchpoints: every 'joke' falls flat at a sobering fact about the consequences of watching TV unlicenced. Then, they put this campaign into students' hands - ingeniously using 'anti-humour' to get them to spread their serious message amongst themselves!

Agency: Proximity London, United kingdom.