GT Student Flash Mob
Date Event was Held: March 29, 2011
Goal of Project: Advertising Organization on Campus While Spreading HIV Awareness with T-shirts
Number of Participants: More Than 50 Students
Funding: $500 for 100 T-shirts
Event Description:
Early at 11:30 am on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Ripple Effect used a new, fun, and effective way of advertising to spread HIV Prevention awareness: the flash mob. The flash mob has been a technique used by many organizations and companies, such as T-mobile, to broadcast their products. At Ripple Effect our purpose was to let people know what we stand for—spreading HIV Awareness around the world.
It all started on the 3rd floor in the Student Center Crescent room. Over 60 students gathered, waiting for the big hand on the clock to hit “5” signaling that it was 11:25am. That was the time to leave the room. Every student in that room came in looking different, but they would leave that room with one thing in common; they would all be wearing a ripple effect shirt (t-shirt designs are shown below). However, a flash mob is all about the element of surprise, just as a predator captures its prey—the audience. So many people wore a coat or other piece of clothing over the shirt to make things less conspicuous. As the clock struck 11:25, the students escaped the room to head to the location of the flash mob: the Student Center Food Court on the 2nd floor. Like a cancer, students spread to all parts of the area—in front of Chick-fil-A and Burdell’s, inside WOW, and even around other organization tables in the vicinity. If we were to be graded on our “minimal conspicuousness,” we would have gotten a 96%. Of course, that 4% comes from 1 or 2 guys who forgot they were wearing the ripple effect shirt and decided to take their jackets off. But at Tech, even getting an A is difficult, so that’s good enough.
The time was coming. Five seconds to 11:30. Four. Three. Two. One. The whistle blew. All around the room, coats were flying off students’ bodies as the exposed their shirts and stood as still as a statue for a whole minute. The big question you had to ask yourself before you froze was, “if you were a statue, how would you pose?” It was very interesting to see what students did. Some were sprawled on the floor. Some were bent over as if to pick up an object from the floor. One guy even stood on top of a table in a superman pose with his fists bent on his side. Automatically, the noise level in the room decreased ten-fold. Even without looking around, it was obvious that we grabbed our audience’s attention. Ripple Effect was making a statement! When the whistle blew for us to unfreeze, everyone who participated went back to their activities as if nothing happened.
Not only was this event fun for the people who participated, it was also a new and innovative way of spreading awareness. If you’re interested in doing something similar at your school, please contact ripple.pledge@gmail.com for more information!
