Pinterest is taking a direct swipe at doomscrolling in its latest brand campaign, as social media backlash and teen mental health concerns continue to dominate headlines.
Citing findings that nearly half of US teens feel they spend too much time on social media, and many believe it negatively affects people their age, the platform is positioning itself as an antidote to constant online consumption. The campaign is built on a simple premise: the best thing you can find online is a reason to go live your life offline.
At the heart of the push is a new 60-second film, “How did they do it?”, produced entirely in-house by Pinterest’s House of Creative. The spot is stitched together from old home movies and photos sourced from employees’ family archives, evoking a more spontaneous, pre-social media era and highlighting what Pinterest describes as “the freedom of a more authentic world” before feeds and likes. The spot ends with the on-screen caption “The best thing you can find online is a reason to go offline.”
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A 30-second cut-down and additional creative assets will roll out from 1 May across TV, cinema, out-of-home and digital channels.
The campaign extends Pinterest’s broader efforts to align the brand with healthier digital habits and a less toxic online environment. CEO Bill Ready has recently called on governments to ban social media for children under 16, while at Coachella this year Pinterest debuted what it claims is the first-ever phone-free activation, a physical space designed for visitors to ditch their screens and reconnect with real-world experiences.
“Most platforms are engineered to keep you scrolling through other people’s lives. Pinterest is engineered to get you off the app and into yours,” said Claudine Cheever, chief marketing officer at Pinterest.
She added, “That’s a fundamentally different value proposition, and this campaign is our boldest statement of that yet. We’re not just launching creative, we’re making a case for what the internet should actually be.”
This focus on being more present in real life echoes other recent work in the region that calls out screen addiction and social media distraction. Earlier this year, Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI)’s gov.sg launched a Hari Raya festive film titled “Kisah musim Raya” (“A Raya tale”), spotlighting the importance of being present with loved ones during the celebrations.
Created with creative agency DSTNCT and directed by Juffrie Juma’at, the film follows Aisyah, a young girl so distracted by her smartphone and social media while preparing for Hari Raya with her parents that she causes chaos at home and even wanders into the wrong house, before realising the moments she has missed, putting her phone away and rejoining her family as the spot closes with the message: “Treasure joyful moments together as we pass down cherished traditions”.
Heineken delivered a similar message late last year in Malaysia, where it rolled out a “Phones off, tap on” festive campaign alongside its new five-litre draught home bar package, urging consumers to put their phones down and be fully present with friends and family across Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year celebrations, and to prioritise real-world connection over digital distractions.
Be part of #Content360 Singapore, 22–23 April 2026, where creativity and culture collide. Explore how AI-driven storytelling is shaping the future of content, gain practical insights, discover new tactics, and learn how the best in Asia are creating campaigns that truly resonate.
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