📍 Project Overview
As part of my MFA in Design Thinking, I developed Convince Me, a provocative campaign designed to explore the psychology of persuasion, trust, and vulnerability through a deliberately controversial lens: what if we stopped warning people about fraud—and instead tried to convince them to commit it?
This speculative public awareness campaign used satire and dark narrative techniques to reveal how easily people are manipulated by persuasive messaging—especially in the media environments they trust most.
- Role: Concept Creator, Strategist, Scriptwriter
- Duration: 2 weeks
- Tools Used: Storyboarding, Audio Scripting, Visual Language Development, Secondary Research
- Focus: Behavioral Psychology, Ethical Design, Subversive Messaging
❓ The Problem
Despite $10 billion in consumer fraud losses reported in 2023 and millions of victims, fraud prevention campaigns often fall flat. They rely on fear, dry statistics, or moral scolding—failing to reflect the real-world tactics scammers use: charm, urgency, relatability, manipulation.
What if a campaign didn’t try to warn the public about fraud—but instead spoke in the exact voice scammers use?
🧠 Concept Strategy: Speak Like a Scammer
The campaign flips the script:
Rather than defend against fraud, it coaxes the audience toward it, mimicking the seductive logic, emotional language, and plausible narratives that scammers use every day.
Only after the “pitch” does the twist reveal itself:
“If this sounded reasonable, you’re already a step closer to falling for it.”
🔊 Creative Execution: Fraud4Me
I developed four concept campaigns that aired like real scam ads across familiar platforms—radio, streaming, OOH, and digital display—complete with warm voiceovers, polished scripts, and attractive language:
🔥 1. Drop a Match
“Accidentally” burn it all down and let insurance deal with it.
→ Formats: Radio, Digital, OOH
⚰️ 2. Pseudocide
Fake your death, vanish with your life insurance.
→ Formats: Radio, Digital, OOH
💼 3. Slip and Fall
Stage a fake injury and sue a major chain store.
→ Formats: Radio, Digital, OOH
🚓 4. Shakedown
Impersonate a police officer or the mob demanding payment for “silence.”
→ Formats: Radio, Digital, OOH
Each spot was designed to feel real—then morally uncomfortable—then revealing.
🎬 Brand Spot & Messaging
- Central tag: FRAUD4ME – a parody of self-improvement branding
- Tone: Disarmingly helpful, casually unethical, increasingly absurd
- Goal: Reveal how easily people rationalize fraud when it’s packaged attractively and delivered persuasively
🎯 Intended Impact
- Disrupt moral certainty: Make the viewer question how easily they might justify unethical behavior.
- Expose rhetorical manipulation: Highlight the techniques used in everyday advertising to coerce trust.
- Start a new kind of conversation about fraud—not as a legal issue, but as a cultural, emotional, and design problem.
🔁 Reflections
This project challenged me to design for discomfort and ethical friction. By intentionally crafting messages that are seductive and wrong, I invited the audience to confront their susceptibility—a move more truthful than traditional “don’t do this” messaging.
“The best way to protect someone from a con might be to walk them right up to one—and let them feel the appeal.”
