Animal Político
Project: Picalenguas
Inciting spicy action
Animal Político is an independent news outlet with fact-checking professionals. 2024 represented the most dangerous season to expose the truth – and we had to do something about it, since an uninformed vote could have catastrophic repercussions for the country in the future.
01The challenge
Due to the violence in Mexico elections, journalists were afraid to publish their investigations. We needed to bring attention and create awareness about the importance of denouncing the truth in a way that’s never been seen before – with an idea that would both naturally connect with the Mexican culture and be safe for journalists.
02The solution
Animal Político and Mexico’s best salsa masters created Picalenguas (“Tongue-stinger”), the spiciest salsa in Mexico, with a QR code on the bottle that led to a fact-checking platform with the hottest news of the electoral process.
Denouncing electoral corruption
There are more than 135K taco shops in Mexico, making the taco the most consumed dish in the country. We brought Picalenguas to each of these shops to “spice people up” and turn a simple sauce into a news verification tool – waking up Mexicans and inviting them to raise their voices, anonymously, denouncing corruption.
The fact-checking tool impacted the electoral process, with the idea escalating to national and international media. We held activations in universities and through artists and influencers who amplified the movement. We even had real-time participation during the presidential debates, igniting up a whole country with the truth during the elections.
03The impact
Empowering Mexicans to make informed decisions
All Picalenguas content focused on empowering Mexicans, especially young people, to make informed decisions. The relevance of the project in the current context of Mexico allowed us to influence public opinion, promoting changes in society and culture.
We generated 265M impressions, reached 215M people and obtained 3M dollars’ worth of free media coverage, 100% of which was positive. The campaign also led to a remarkable 75% increase in “El Sabueso” news verifications.
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