Kahlúa has launched a digital campaign called, “Zero Likes Given” to celebrate Instagram users’ least-liked photos and encourage users to spend less time worrying about “likes,” and more time enjoying the present moment. The campaign comes after Kahlúa conducted a study that found more than half of millennials missed an important moment because they were trying to capture it on social media.
In the study, commissioned by Kahlúa and conducted by Wakefield Research, over 90 percent of US millennials surveyed on social media said it’s important to live in the moment. At the same time, over 60 percent agreed it’s important that their Instagram pictures get liked. The ugly truth about millennials’ obsession with seeking validation from Instagram is reflected by the fact that more than a third of respondents admitted they check for likes one minute or less after posting to Instagram.
Based on these findings, Kahlúa created the “Zero Likes Given” campaign with a special landing page on its website, called #BottomNine, that features a tool to generate user photos on Instagram with zero likes. To see their #BottomNine, consumers log in with their Instagram account and the app serves up the least-liked images, what Kahlúa calls “forgotten gems.”
In an effort to liberate social media users from the pressures of their like count, Kahlúa is also opening a pop-up exhibition in New York City from July 25-July 28. Hosted by actress Jackie Cruz (Orange Is The New Black), the gallery will display dozens of “unliked” images that consist of zero-liked photography originally posted from consumers from around the world. The pop-up will feature the oldest zero-liked Instagram post, which was first published a day after Instagram launched in 2010.
“Life has become too serious, with social media showing an artificially perfect view of life. Even coffee and cocktails are now required to be picture-perfect! We at Kahlúa embody the fun side of coffee, so we’re taking likes less seriously in the spirit of our own brand and providing a call to action for everyone out there to do the same–we want consumers to enjoy hanging out with friends more than they enjoy garnering likes,” said Giancarlo Martins, Kahlúa global communications lead.
