Jell-O Aims to Save World From Dec. 21 Apocalypse

If you’re reading this before December 21, are you dreading the destruction of the world as foretold by the ancient Mayan calendar? Probably not. According to a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Jell-O, only 4 percent think the world will end on that date.

While some folks await in dread the predicted disasters, alien invasions, reconfiguration of the Milky Way or even the second coming of a major religious prophet, Jell-O hopes that the 96 percent will sit down to a bowl of pudding. To encourage them, its new TV spot spoofs the doomsaying with “the funnest sacrifice ever.”

In “Fun to the Rescue,” created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), an expedition to a Mayan ruin places a crate of Jell-O pudding on top of a pyramid in hopes of appeasing the gods. The commercial is available as a video on YouTube and also is featured on the Jell-O Facebook page, linked to the URL funpocalypse.org.

Jell-O wants pudding lovers to take part in a Twitter sweepstakes with a $100 per day prize. To play, people need to follow @jello on Twitter and then tweet @jello#funpocalypse, telling everyone the one thing they’d want to do before the world ended – even if it doesn’t involve pudding. Through December 20, the brand will randomly select 12 entries each day to win $100 send the world off with a bang.

The Kraft Foods brand also has a partnership with Someecards to offer end-of-the-world-inspired electronic greeting cards. The landing page for the Jell-O-branded cards includes a banner for the campaign and a link to the YouTube video via a display ad.